The Tale of Rage
by Empirialtank
Summary: Rage must find a master and Shogun seems like just the man for the job too bad he's a wanted man with the entire police force of Tokyo on his tail plus a rival Doji gunning for his head will he take the job and the resposibility to end the world? Complete
1. Prologue

_Note 1: I DO NOT OWN ULTIMO, Stan Lee does and he's a genius. Everyone who reads these words should go out buy a copy of the latest Ultimo Manga and read it. _

_Note 2: I am raiting this fan fic, T for teen, be forewarned there is mild language and lots of violence in this story, and the first chapter takes place in a brothel. There are, however, no descriptions of any of the events that usually happens in a brothel in that chapter or any other, I also will never drop the "F-bomb."Nonetheless, if anyone thinks I should raise the rating on this story feel free to tell me so in a review, which I hope a lot of people will bless me with. Remember though, You have been warned._

_Note 3: Since the Ultimo Manga is told part in the present and part in the twelfth centaury to explain the background of the main characters, this fiction will work in relatively the same way. The origins of the main characters will be told in a three part prologue that takes place in feudal Japan, the actual story will be told through the real chapters taking place in the year Twenty Eleven about a year before Ultimo and Vice clash for the second time in the modern era. Here is the first part of the Prologue, the second part will be told after chapter three, and the final part we will burn as we cross it. This will most likely be an epic story but I can't make any promises about how often it will update since life does happen. Aside from that I hope that anyone that stumbles across this story enjoys it._

Prologue part 1

Two men were standing on the precipice of Hell, which at the moment looked a rather lot like a bridge. The precipice of Hell can look like an awful lot of different things depending on what hell is threatening to take away. At the moment hell was threatening to take away a small village, which was at the back of the two men, bordering a small river that the bridge ran across. Inside the village was an Imperial bureaucrat who was escorting a large caravan of rice and taxes. On the other side of the bridge coming out of hell was a group of about three hundred odd heavily armed men. They were coming out of hell because anyone who has been in hell for any significant length of time does not want to stay there, and because the Imperial caravan had an awful lot of cash on hand that the group of men wanted to liberate.

These men were very good at liberating things, like money from oppressive bureaucrats or towns from overbearing lords, or people's shoulders from the heavy weights of their heads. Of course to the untrained eye this seemed like acts of theft and violence and such ignorant people tended to call these men bandits. These were not evil men though, they were simply desperate men who were caught in hell and had now found a chance to leave hell and rob the truly evil men who were responsible for their destitution. Not that the two men standing on the precipice of hell really cared about any of that.

In fact the two men standing on the very edge of hell itself didn't care about much. They didn't care about protecting the Imperial bureaucrat. They didn't care that the bandits would probably burn to the town to the ground after they "Liberated" it. They didn't care that the people were only marginally better off if they lived because the bureaucrat was going to steal a solid fourth of their taxes which would cause the Emperor to raise taxes and make life more difficult for everyone. They didn't care about the fact that the bureaucrat was currently blackmailing a family into prostitution with the threat of taking their farm away. They didn't care that these bandits had cut off the town from the only trade that promised the town any prosperity at all. They didn't care that after these bandits were dead new ones would be sent by Bandit King Yamato to resume where these had left off. They didn't care about much at all.

They cared about two things. First was that the men in charge of securing their pay from the Emperor had told them that no one was to cross this bridge till all the bandits were dead, and second was that they were standing on the edge of hell and smiling. The two men standing on the mouth of hell loved where they were and they loved the view. They loved the sight of hell's maw, the thousands of teeth looking up at them daring them to come in. They loved the knowledge that they were the only things standing between the masses of hell and the gates of heaven. The only thing they loved more than the sight of hell was the heat and the rush created by leaping down the throat of hell, finding the devil and slicing his balls off.

These two men had spent their lives standing on the edge of hell, be it a bridge, a gate, an alley, the edge of a forest, an open plain or anywhere else that the enemies of the Emperor gathered in great enough numbers to merit their attention. The rest of their lives consisted of killing all of the hell spawned bandits who came at them, all the while expanding their already impressive collection of demonic _cojones_. They were the Imperial Kensai; they had one purpose in life, to kill anyone who crossed the Emperor and they really enjoyed their job. Their names were Oda Nobuhide and Daisuke Osamu.

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Oda Nobuhide was born in the northern mountains, his parents died when he was very young, but his older sister was a strong woman and managed to provide for him in the wilderness. She was a fine archer and a great home maker. Nobuhide loved her with all his heart and soul, so it should not surprise anyone that when he came home one day, at the age of six and found a local bandit half an inch away from stealing his sister's virginity, he took the wood axe he had been using to gather fire wood and killed a man for the first time in his life. The bandit had friends though, friends who would chase Nobuhide and his sister for years. She became a legend in the local towns as a great and beautiful warrior who defied the bandits and lived by the skill of her bow. During this time Nobuhide perfected the art of not getting disemboweled while someone swings a sword at him. He never killed many bandits but he was very good a distracting them and staying alive while his sister proved the only difference between killing a deer with an arrow and killing a man is that deer are slightly faster.

Her luck, however, ran out when Nobuhide turned twelve and she lost her head. Her murderer lost his guts a few moments later as something inside Nobuhide snapped. That snap led him to shift his focus in battle from 'not getting impaled on the long pieces of sharp steal coming towards me' to 'I am going to kill those sons of a seamstress' When he turned fourteen, Nobuhide did just that and claimed the bounty on the leader of his lifelong foes. He used that money to get his sword reforged by a man named Professor Dunstan, a local blacksmith who was, truth be told, the single greatest artisan, engineer, or scientist that the world had ever seen or would see for a long time.

After that Nobuhide sold himself as a mercenary to a local Imperial bureaucrat and was given the job of protecting a shipment of rice and taxes through the bandit infested forests that separated the towns in those days. Though he was much younger then all of his comrades, he had two advantages over them. First, he was very good at not getting wounded or injured in battle. He was so good at this that even if a hundred archers all shot three arrows at him while he ran straight at them, he would not even get a single scratch. Second, his body didn't quite understand how it was supposed to use adrenalin.

A human needs a lot of adrenalin when they get into life threatening situations because then they need to do things like picking up a car to let their child out from underneath it, and they also need a lot of endorphins so that they don't feel every part of their bodies cry out in pain as the human force itself far past its absolute limits. At the same time though, the body has to limit the amount of adrenalin and endorphins it makes of so that it doesn't kill itself, and the person doesn't go insane, and this is what Nobuhide's body simply didn't understand. Rather than releasing these vital chemicals in small controlled amounts, Nobuhide's body simply kicks the adrenaline and endorphin levels up to 'Bloody hell that's high,' turned the strategy gauges to 'awesome ass kicking glory' and then binds up his senses of humanity, self-preservation, morality, self-control and common sense and throws them into the closet till the slaughter was over. Because of this Nobuhide is a very strong, insane warrior who loves nothing more than the sight of men impaled on his sword.

The practical upshot of which was that any rice caravan that Nobuhide guarded got through, the downside was that paying the bounties on all the bandits he had killed usually cost more than the rice that he had brought in was worth. Consequently the only person left in Japan who could afford to hire the now legendary warrior was the Emperor himself. The Emperor was also the one to introduce Nobuhide to his one and only rival as well as his best friend Daisuke Osamu.

If life can be said to be a massive road that one walks from beginning to end the one could say that Nobuhide's life looks like this. He was born a small demon in hell, he then became a bigger demon in hell, then he became a devil of hell who no demon can dare challenge; now he is a _respectable_ devil from hell who works for heaven. Osamu is headed in the opposite direction to the same point. He was a once respectable angel who is now slipping down into hell.

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Daisuke Osamu was born in heaven, the son of a legendary warrior who undoubtedly deserved to be in heaven. He died gloriously against a horde of bandits when Osamu tuned twelve. This meant that while Osamu and his family weren't kicked out of heaven, they fell from the Emperor's favor and became the closest thing one can be to a poor man in the inner capital city. Osamu was determined to get back into the Emperor's favor but he realized that there are only three ways to do this. He had to become the Emperor's concubine, a grand bureaucrat, or follow his father and become a mighty warrior. Osamu soon found he was physically and mentally incapable of doing the first two so he opted for a third and set out to find a master.

The master he found was an old man that all the other would be warriors of the courts passed over in favor of younger men who set out to die gloriously in battle. Osamu like the old man though because he would not go out to die gloriously in battle any time soon and because he had gone off to die gloriously in battle but managed to dodge the whole dying part. From this old master Osamu learned everything was to know about fighting and killing. Osamu became and master swordsman and an even greater archer. He was such a great archer that he could fire five arrows at a target twenty yards away, get them all to hit dead center of the target, and get the fifth arrow into the air before the first one hit. He could also get the forth arrow of his next set into the air before the fifth arrow of the last set hit.

When Osamu was sixteen his master told him he had learned all he could from one tired old man and sent him out to battle, and there Osamu came to life. Suddenly all the frustration and hatred that he had ever felt, about his father's death or how the court treated him and his mother or how strange and harsh his teacher had been, came pouring out of his bow and his sword. He went wild with anger and happiness to the point that all the warriors around him thought he was mad. He was also very, very good, so good the merely mentioning that he had come to a region drove bandits out of it. He became a hero to the people a messenger of hope and justice, at the courts he became a grim sight that everyone dreaded to look at he was considered no better than a demon. Demons are feared though, so Osamu and his family were gradually promoted back up into Imperial favor and were once again allowed to attend all the cool parties.

When Osamu turned twenty he was sent out to crush a peasant revolt in the north and when he returned he found that the so called Bandit King Yamato had attacked the Imperial capital and had kidnapped the Emperor's betrothed wife. Suddenly Osamu found that the Emperor considered him to be his best friend, and wanted Osamu to go out into the country side, find this Bandit King, and kill him. Osamu had no problem with this save that the Emperor wanted him to work alongside of a Ronin from the north. Nobuhide and Osamu had hated each other when they first met, but now after fighting several battles together, looking for any clues about where the Bandit King might be found, they had grown to respect each other but they were still bitter rivals. Even now as a hoard of bandits charged them the only thing they were concerned about was that once again Nobuhide was complaining that Osamu was stealing all the easy kills with his bow.

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Nobuhide himself stood six foot three inches tall on the bridge. He wore armor with red limbs and a black center piece with no banner on his back or insignia of any kind about him. He wore his hair short without a samurai knot and stood loosely on the bridge waiting for an enemy to make it past Osamu's arrows. He carried three swords about him, a rusty old wakizashi, a chipped and rugged katana now stained crimson red by the blood of countless men, and a great No-Dachi which shown with the reflected silver light of the moon. Osamu stood five foot eleven and wore the gray and purple armor of his father. He carried the imperial insignia on his back and had allowed his hair to grow out long so that the ends were stained red from resting on his often bloody armor. He carried two swords along with a great Yuri long bow and two quivers of about sixty arrows each. He stood ridgedly on the bridge, his arms a blur of motion as he switched over from his first quiver to his second without the slightest bit of hesitation. His body was a machine, save for his face which was lit up in a blood crazed smile as he watched man after man drop with arrows in their hearts, necks, and eyes.

Nobuhide simply shook his head, turned to his partner and said, "I am bored, don't shoot me in the back, got it?" Osamu said nothing, he didn't even blink for he was already caught up in the slaughter. Nobuhide took off and met the now devastated front line of bandits at break neck speed. The five foot long No-Dachi came tearing off his shoulder in a silver blaze and brought three men to the ground, leaving nothing but blood and shattered armor in its wake. He took and step forward and brought the blade back around, this time one ducked as two of his comrades slipped into the void. As the survivor came back up, Nobuhide kicked him in the chest knocking him back and brought his sword down cleaving through both of the man's lungs and his heart in a flash of silver and crimson light.

Thrice more he swung his blade into the mass of foes; then some of the bandits turned around and try to take him from behind. Nobuhide turned and swung in a single motion brought the first charge to the reaper. The he then turned back around again and threw his sword at the first foe to meet his eyes, impaling him in the center of his chest. The Kensai drew his blood stained katana and threw aside his mask to reveal his crazed smile and eyes burning with insanity and dared the bandits to come for him. There was nothing elegant about the slaughter that followed no glory, no grace. Nobuhide had no style to his fighting, no complex duals of men worming their ways around each other, when his foes struck he dodged by inches, when he struck his foe either died or their arm broke under the force of his attack that was all. He would then turn and kick a man behind him, catch a sword arm or simply unleashes a blitz of attacks. He didn't let his foes move or attack, he came and nothing stood for long against him.

After a few moments the arrows stopped falling, and Osamu took to the field, a sword in one hand and its sheath in the other. He was a dancer, grace personified. Every blow found its mark, every defense was a trap, and not a move was wasted was he flew through his foes. The fighting lasted for about half an hour then the five last bandits found that they were surrounded by two men and all their comrades had fallen to the ground. Before them stood the terror of the north, a man of unstoppable strength born without mercy, behind them was the champion of the courts, a blood thirsty master of man slaughter. They were all that was left to glut these men's thirst for chaos and death.

"You bastards!" One of bandits cried out in final defiance. "How dare you come from your high towers to protect men like him! Don't you see that these bureaucrats are killing this country? They have to die, what they have stolen must be returned…"

"You are a hundred years to early to lecture me on theft bandit." Osamu interrupted him. "Don't you dare presume that you stand on equal ground with me your life is in my hand, and I don't feel generous today!"

"Shut up Osamu!" Nobuhide declared, "Don't ruin my high with your damn moralizing just shut up and let me kill them!"

"For once I agree with you Nobuhide, let's make this a silent slaughter."

It was, save for the screams of four of the men as they dropped to the ground clutching their guts and trying to put their intestines back in place. One man was left caught in between the blood crazed warriors surviving for an impossibly long time. Not because of his own skill but because the two Kensai were blocking each other's swords as to tried to claim the last kill. Finally Nobuhide knocked him down and moved in for the kill.

As the last bandit backed away from his killer he cried out in desperation, "You know this changes nothing, so long as men like the Emperor rape the land there will never be an end to bandits. We will come out of every broken town and rally to the Bandit King and rise against the capital."

"Then we will kill the Bandit King and all those who follow him and we will kill every bandit from every broken town till there no one left in the land to kill." Nobuhide answered.

"You can't, you can't," then Bandit declared as if this was his last hope in life to cling to. "Bandit King Yamato is the master of even God himself; no one can beat him, not even you two."

Nobuhide stopped for a moment, this was a new one. Everyone had heard the rumors that the gods fought for Yamato because he was doing righteous work, Nobuhide didn't believe it though. Osamu believed even less, every rebel peasant claimed gods were on their side, it made no sense. The Emperor was god why would god fight against himself? But what this bandit said intrigued Osamu as much as it caught Nobuhide's attention. That Yamato was master of God? That was a new one.

"What do you mean, Yamato is master of God? How can a man become God's master?"

"You don't believe me, but I have seen it. I was part of the King's army he sent me here to kill this bureaucrat. I have seen God; he calls Yamato master and does whatever Yamato tells him to. He kills for Yamato and Yamato kills though him. Together, fighting as God and God's teacher they're unstoppable. Yamato spared the Emperor to teach God about mercy, but since the Emperor hasn't changed, soon Yamato will teach God true justice and kill the Emperor. Then God will reign and men like you will be executed as the murders you are!"

"Ah hahahahah!" Nobuhide laughed, "So God studies under a roach like Yamato! How can I fear such a weak little god as that? Tell you what bandit, I will return your life to you! You just have to do one little favor for me."

Nobuhide then grabbed the bandit by the back of the neck and pulled him so close that the bandit could smell the madness dripping from the Kensai's body. "Run! Run away and tell your god and your king to wash their necks. I am tired of cutting up trash like you so when I come to claim their heads I want them to have clean necks!"

Nobuhide dropped the bandit who took off at a mad dash into the forest. Osamu turned to Nobuhide and said "You bastard! You let him go, I don't know how you do things in the untamed wilderness but here in the capital we like a bit of finality in our business. Bandits don't get away, so now we will have to track him down."

"Exactly," Nobuhide answered. "And when we do, he will have led us straight to the Bandit King. We have been chasing that idiot up and down this land for six long months, and I am tired of it all. We're going to end this all and we're going to do it this week. I am tired of killing these small fries, I want to kill the big guy already and be done with it."

"Huh," Osamu said to himself, "You know that almost sounds like a plan, I didn't think a barbarian like you was capable of such rational thought. But first let's go take a bath; there will be plenty of time to track him down later.

"Amen to that my brother."

As they left hell and returned to the village the town elder came to meet them. "Is it over?" he asked feebly

"Yes old man it's over now," Osamu answered, "the field is yours once again, their bodies may have crushed all the crops though, so tomorrow when you go to clear them out; gather the heads of all the dead and claim their bounties in our name. That should pay for your lost crops."

"Oh thank you Kensai-dono is there anything we can do for you?"

"A hot bath and five days worth of rice would be appreciated."

"Of course, anything we can do to thank you."

After stripping their armor and washing their bodies the warriors set about the task of ritualistically cleaning their weapons. The only one which wasn't cleaned properly was Nobuhide's Katana, he never truly cleaned his sword, he simply set it in a cooking fire so that most of the blood burned off but another layer of crimson stains were baked in place. Osamu shook his head in disgust, to treat one's own sword that way was unthinkable, but Nobuhide insisted in sealing the souls of his enemies in his sword. While they were working the Imperial tax collector came into their room.

"Ah" He said in a high pitched poetic sigh signaling that he was about to be philosophical and impressive, "There is truly no sight more beautiful than the sight of true warriors cleansing themselves after battle."

"Do not lie to us Tax-man-dono," Osamu answered, "Even harsh men like us know there is one sight more beautiful than a warrior setting down their weapons."

"And what is that Kensai-sama?"

"Why it's the sight of a bureaucrat laying down their pens and doing an honest day's work for once in their lives."

"Oh Kensai-sama your words cut me to the core, why are men of the battle field so harsh to the servants of the Emperor? But I digress, when shall we leave for Kyoto Kensai-sama? Personally I would like to stay a few more days but if you're eager to return I think I could be dragged away from my work here."

"We're not going back to Kyoto, so you are free to leave whenever you want."

"Me? Leave alone?" Asked the Tax-man obviously panicking over what had been said, "But don't you understand that the court only gave me a few men as escorts because you all would be here? If you leave without me then I'll die in the forest beset by bandits."

"Don't be act like fool, Tax-man-dono, it does not fit your character acting like a murderer or a cur would be better," Nobuhide answered, "We have killed all the bandits here so even if you stay here for days the only thing that will trouble you is a few wounded stragglers. However, any experience that you men can pick up would be good for them, so please stay here for at least a week and enjoy yourself."

"Why do you have to go anyway? Surely you're eager to get back to Kyoto?"

"We have a lead on Bandit King Yamato's location we can't wait to go back to Kyoto and lose his trail; we will leave tomorrow to take him down."

"THE BANDIT KING! Well if there's going to be that kind of trouble I should probably leave tonight."

"Tax-man-dono," Interrupted Osamu in a quiet voice that was accompanied by a faint smile which the whole Imperial court knew meant that Osamu was threatening to kill you and was currently having trouble controlling his excitement. "If I come back to Kyoto with the head of the Bandit King in my hand and I find out that you left here because of fear of our battle I would become so angry with myself there's no telling what I might I do."

"Why y-yes" said the Tax-man in a disturbed voice after a long silence, "Well then, i-if your certain that I will be alright th-then I will leave in a few days or so." He then left obviously shaken up.

Outside he passed a pair of peasants who he paid no attention to. When he closed the door to the inn one of the peasants tuned to the other and said, "What did they say that broke him like that?"

"They said that they're leaving without him tomorrow!" the other replied.

"Perfect! I heard the Kensai have given the village right to the heads of all the bandits. So here's what we do, as soon as those demon's leave we'll kill that bastard of a tax-man and then give the heads to the government saying that these are the heads of the bandits who killed the Tax-man and that we avenged him but couldn't stop the deed itself."

"Good plan, those men are gods of hell but the other soldiers are weak as twigs they can be dealt with easily, go tell the village elder, I will spread the word."

So the moon set on the small village. Outside its borders the mouth of hell closed leaving behind the bodies of its demon's having reclaimed their souls. In the town the Kensai plotted to seek out the most powerful man in Japan and take his head. The Villagers plotted murder and the Bureaucrat went to bed estimating how long he had left to live, he was overestimating his time. Down in the midst of hell, as the Devil nursed the bloody wound that was once his sack, a sole demon who's power could shatter heaven, hell and everything in between, a true god of hell, looked up at the closing gate and wondered when his body would complete and how much he could learn from those men.

End of part 1


	2. Chapter 1: Lands of Hell

Chapter 1: Lands of Hell

Three men were standing outside of a brothel in grand old city of Tokyo. It didn't look like a brothel, but the only brothels that wouldn't last long at all looked like brothels. To the untrained eye this brothel looked like an antique shop. There were, however, two key facts that someone who knew what to look for could immediately see as clear signs that this was a brothel. First was the clerk. Considering that the proprietor of this establishment was a sixty three year old Japanese man, he certainly had one hot western girl working the cash register. It was also very odd that none of the young men in the neighborhood knew anything about her. Not her number, not where she lived, what her day job was, or even what her name was. Considering that this was a blonde-bombshell with all the right curves working a job at local cash register, something about that lack of knowledge was certainly off. The second and slightly more obivious clue was that, while all the other shops were closing down for the night, this little antique shop was just opening.

Once that little fact perked the weird sensors in one's mind several other facts started to jump out. Why were the walls so thick? Why did a tiny little antique shop need all the storage it had behind one closed door? Had anyone ever really bought anything there, and if not how did it pay the rent? And finally: Why did so many stretch limos drop homeless men off at its door? If anyone did any investigating into this it didn't take long to realize what was really going on. Not that any of this concerned the three men standing outside its door and across the street. They weren't investigating whether or not this was a brothel, they knew it was a brothel, but fact did not concern them either.

What did interest them was something that one could not guess from their appearances. They were a very strange set of men, they looked very different from each other. One man was very tall, well over six feet tall, with shoulders that would make an ox jealous. He was not fat, but he certainly took up a lot of pavement, in days of old he would have been the man that held the great big axe to scare the enemy diplomats. Today he carried a really big iron pole over his back in a sort of non-caring way that only a nine year old would think was cool, but nonetheless forced everyone around him to stare at his stick and walk around him. Next to him was a little fat man with a wide grin. He was not actually fat, he just had a really big chest that made him look fat, and that appearance wasn't helped by the fact that he was just barely five feet tall. Next to the fat man was a man of average height, with a very scrawny build. These two looked very out of place next to the big man but one who knew what to look for would instantly recognize their relation.

The small fat man had a powerful set of eyes, eyes that missed nothing, and cut through anything. His smile hid a forked tongue and his hands hid his heavy calluses gained by a near life time in the fields. He was the level headed one, who was a devil with a baseball bat and enough room to swing. The scrawny guy had the world challenging grin of a mad man and his coat hid more bruises and scares then he count. An experience barroom-brawler would instantly recognize him as the guy who by the third shot of tequila would have picked a fight with five men, and beaten the first two of them.

The good eye would also realize that as noticeable as theses three were they could vanish in a moment. All three wore dark grey suits with white collar shirts and silver ties, which mean that if they stepped into a shadowy alley, or out from under a street lamp and stood still, they would vanish. More importantly, other than their black sun glasses and the big guy's stick, they looked like business men, if they took one step back into the mass of people rushing home behind them they would vanish. They did not vanish though, they simply stood still and watched the cashier in the brothel walk to the door and quickly switch the closed sign over to open and then rush back to her seat to act like they had been open all day. At the same time a traffic light turned red and the three strange men crossed the street.

The scrawny one entered first and traveled straight to the back, waving to the clerk as he past smiling like an excited child. The fat man and the big man entered next. The clerk seemed to be surprised by them coming in; men didn't usually show up till at least eight o clock, she had just flipped the sign over. When she saw the big guy though, her words of protest seemed to dry up in her throat. She stared at his staff and made the mistake of letting the thought 'I wonder why that man carries such a big stick?' cross her mind, which was then crossed by the much more dangerous thought 'I wonder how hard he can swing it?'

The fat man turned to her, smiled and bowed slightly. He then said, "Good evening we are friends of Mr. Hiroko is he in yet? We need to speak with him about business."

"He's, he's in the back room," the girl responded as she shook her mind of the human tower standing above the little smiling fat man. "But you can't go back there I will buzz…"

A mighty "WHUMP!" interrupted the girl before she could finish, it was then followed two more "WHUMPS" as the scrawny man landed three roundhouse kicks on the back door, all within the same second all without his hands leaving his pockets. The large Iron door shuddered under the first blow, bent slightly beneath the second, and ripped off its hinges when the third hit it. Beyond the door a few dozen girls, in various stages of getting dressed and undressed turned and watched the scrawny man calmly walk in as if a gust of wind had opened the door. Behind him, the big man stepped in across the fallen door and tapped with his large staff, as if to say he could have opened it in one blow. Finally the little man came in, smiling as if he had just told a grand joke that everyone should now laugh at.

The girls stared at the three visitors. The older girls who had seen this sort of thing happen before began to quietly dress themselves and inch towards the side doors. The girls who had been there long enough to know how the world worked backed away from the men like they had the plague. The younger girls, who still thought this all just good clean fun that they could make a quick buck off of, simply stared at the intruders and thought all the wrong thoughts. Like, 'Why does he carry that big stick?' or 'Did that scrawny little guy really just break down that door?' but mostly just 'huh, how can two men who clearly bathe in testosterone walk so calmly through a group of half-naked girls?'

Eventually the scrawny man came to the door that led to the boss's office and opened it up so that the big man and the fat man could go in. He then tuned and bowed to the ladies, laughed to himself, and went in. Precisely seven seconds later, the doors slammed shut as most of the older girls hit the streets running. Within a few moments even the younger girls wised up and followed, especially after the shouting started.

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Mr. Hiroko was a kindly old man who absolutely convinced that he ran a happy business. His business made everyone happy, it made him money which made him happy, it made the girls money and allowed them to have an awful lot of sex, which seemed to make them all very happy. It certainly made all of his customers very happy, and since he invested his money into the local community it made the neighbors all happy. Wasn't making everyone happy a good thing? Mr. Hiroko thought so, but apparently the nice police officers didn't think so. Six years ago they arrested him and sent him to jail for a year. He never really understood why, sure he knew running a brothel was illegal but he didn't understand why it was illegal. He would have gone to jail for a long time because of that, but he got off earlier because he had been careful to never beat his girls, cheat them out of their pay, or use forced labor. Plus those lawyers had been such nice men; they shortened down his time in exchange for a short little list of people who came regularly to his place.

That, however, had apparently made several people very angry with him, because as soon as Mr. Hiroko got out of jail, several angry looking men met him. Fortunately there was another man there as well, a great big man with broad shoulders and a big stick. He worked for a man named Mr. Sanji, Mr. Sanji was a nice man indeed, he sent that big man to protect Mr. Hiroko and offer him a job. Mr. Sanji had given him this nice place, found a lot of nice girls for him who kept their work stations nice and clean. He also had the nice young man with the great big stick explain to the police that Mr. Hiroko was a nice man and that they should leave him along.

Of course, Mr. Sanji expected to be compensated for all his favors, but it wasn't much and Mr. Hiroko was just glad to be alive and back in business. Every now and then though, something would go wrong, Mr. Sanji would say that he had not gotten all the money Mr. Hiroko owed him and would send the big man to meet with Mr. Hiroko. The big man wasn't actual all that bad, Mr. Hiroko thought that he was a nice man deep down inside, the only problem was that the big man was only really happy when he was fighting. There also the problem of his friends who were in Mr. Hiroko's mind some of the few men who were a bad sort. The Scrawny man was the real trouble. He didn't love fighting, he loved breaking people's bones, he lived for the snaps and pops created by snapping a man's bones in two. He got in all kinds of fights and then the big man would step in a break them up, one bone at a time.

Then there was the little fat man, the owl man as Mr. Hiroko called him. He wasn't violent, he was a pecker. He found these little details that no one normally cares about and he would peck at them and peck at them, like a carrion bird at a carcass. He just never dropped the most inane details, he would argue for a night about thirty two yen of missing money, or about bones he was going to have to break because of that missing yen. All the while one had look at his eyes, the piercing eyes that looked though a man's body. It seems as if he was trying to bore a hole into the soul of the other man by the sure will power of his eyes.

And they always broke his door down. It's not like he needed to be intimidated by them, Mr. Hiroko knew what would happen if he crossed Mr. Sanji, and he always gave them the money that was missing so why did they always break his door down? One can't run a brothel when the door's been broken, so Mr. Hiroko has to shut down for a few days while he finds a repairman who will fix it without asking why there a restaurant with so many private booths behind an antique shop. Needless to say, when Mr. Hiroko heard the three thumps and clanging sound that was then followed by dead silence and someone opening his door, he banged his head against his desk.

Skip

The big man came in first with his big stick which always captured your attention and your imagination. He walked in and moved to a corner where he stood like a dark god of punishment waiting for a judgment to carry out. After him came the smiling owl man who greeted Mr. Hiroko politely and then took a seat on the other side of the desk when it was offered to him. Last came the scrawny man who grabbed a chair, turned it around and sat down looking like a wolf as he watched for any opportunity to break one of Mr. Hiroko's bones.

"Let's get down to business," Mr. Hiroko began, "If you three broke down my door then that means some money is missing from my last payment to Mr. Sanji and you're here to collect it. So how much do I owe you all?"

"10,000 yen plus expenses." The owl man calmly replied.

"Right then," Mr. Hiroko said as he reached down into a drawer and pulled out a wad of odd bills, he always kept some money here for situations like this, and pulled out the appropriate amount. "Here's the 10,000 plus 5000 for your troubles."

"Thank you Mr. Hiroko, now then down to the real business at hand. We don't get called down here for pocket change like this, but this is the third time this quarter that your payments have been a little short. That's not good for business, so what we need to know what's causing this and what we can do to stop it."

_Here's the kicker_ Mr. Hiroko thought to himself, _every damn time they come down here it's the same business. They can't just take their money and go the owl man has to peck at something. It's always why? Why? Why?_ Mr. Hiroko knew why, but hell would open up before he said it. Every now and then a guy would come who was a bit stronger then they counted on, with a faulty condom and an accident happens. Then one of the girls needs a Planned Parenthood intervention, but their expensive, so all the girls chip in, but that's never enough because they need all the money they can get. So the girl who supposed to take Mr. Sanji his money thinks to herself does he really need all the cash? So she swipes a bill or two to help pay for the operation. Tomorrow she'll come and see Mr. Hiroko and beg for forgiveness because she knows that Mr. Hiroko knows and she does not want to find out how hard the big man can swing that stick. He'll forgive her, maybe get a favor or two from her to help relax, everyone will tighten their belts and they'll get a new door. In a few years a new girl will take over the carrier job and the process will eventually repeat. Mr. Hiroko knew in the grand scheme of things that these visits were all just part of business, but he would be damned if he ever let that lesson go as far as the owl man always pressed him to take it.

"Good Sir, I am an old man and god only knows I have a lot of distractions around here, every now and then I forget a bill or two. I get the letters from the boss, slap myself on the head and sent them out. It's an honest mistake and it happens, you've got to work with me here."

"Come now Mr. Hiroko one may forget a few yen here and there but you don't forget to put in 10,000 yen by mistake. Look at it from my end: my boss figures that there are two reasons why the money is not here. First, you're pocketing it for yourself. Second someone else is pocketing it for themselves. Now you expect me to go back and tell him you just forgot? The Boss isn't going to take that kind of crap."

"My girls are not thieves! And you know I am not dumb enough to ruin a good thing here, so please go back to your boss and tell him there's nothing to worry about…"

They would go on like this for a while, and as it became apparent that Mr. Hiroko was not going to turn the culprit over to them the big man lost interest. So he left his corner and started walking around the room. Mr. Hiroko was a pack rat; he collected two kinds of things with a passion. One was money; the other was the stranger, 'tools of the trade as it were'. Effectively, every now and then a really creative girl would say to a really artistic girl "Hey you know what would really spice up the time for our clients? A Blank! You know for blanking your blank blank, and we could blankity blank blank, blanking the blanker blank rubber spanner and a bull's horn." And the result of this conversation ended up on Mr. Hiroko's wall. He had all kinds of cool things: big things, little things, plastic things, wooden things, mettle things, things with balls and strings attached to them, things that could be shared, things that belonged in the darker parts of the human mind, and things that just made one wonder about the human soul. Some of them were in boxes with pictures on them, some had long instruction manuels, some were very simple. One of them made the big man do a double take.

"Hey Mr. Hiroko," The big man said interrupting the action for a moment, "What's this thing?" He said as he pointed his thumb at a large glass case hidden back behind a bookshelf.

"What that?" Mr. Hiroko responded dumbly, he hadn't heard the big man speak in five years, and he was just some teenage punk back then, "That's a specialty tool which a certain client of mine had me track down for him. Apparently it's a doll of some sort made back during the 1600s, made by some western merchant."

"What's it to ya Shogun?" The scrawny man said, referring to the big man by a name for the first time that Mr. Hiroko had ever heard off. "Does it turn it ya on?"

"Ha, very funny Viper. It's just weird that's all; guess every era must have its perverts."

"Oh don't say something like that," Mr. Hiroko complained, "You can't insult what makes people happy, and there have always been people who prefer dolls and children, it only inevitable that the two cross. If you don't care for it, you don't have to pay a million yen for it."

"A million yen for that load of crap?" Viper exclaimed, "Here I thought this was the place you went to screw, not get screwed."

"It's his money," Mr. Hiroko responded, "And the damn thing cost me a half million."

"Hey, ah" the Owl man interrupted, "Mr. Sanji is going to see a cut of that right?"

Shogun lost interest at that point, he just went back to staring at the 'damn thing'. It was a doll presumably of a young boy who was about four feet high with long silver hair. He wore an Aladdin type vest and the lower half of a kimono, definitely a western product. There were two odd things about him. First was that he had a pair of spikes coming out of neck around his jaw like an insect's teeth. Second, were his hands, they were huge, much larger than the boy's head, with only three fingers and a thumb. It also looked like he was wearing a huge pair of gloves that covered most of his forearm in red armor and made him look a lot like a gorilla.

Deep inside of Shogun there was a part of him which solely paid attention to things that were out of place, and it was ringing like mad. Why would anyone make a sex doll with such huge hands and face spikes? There was something more to it than just that though, deep down in the parts of Shogun's soul that made him into the man he truly was, a word was ringing out and was trying to batter its way out his throat.

_Rage_ he thought. Not the emotion, nor a feeling of rage, just the word, _Rage_ like he was naming it, but more than just it, he also felt like it was part of himself. "Rage," Shogun whispered to no one at all, and just as he said it seemed for a moment that the doll stirred, like a bit of electricity had just jumped through it. Shogun would have said something at that point when suddenly another thought occurred to him, a thought that came for the part of him which paid much closer attention to the world then he did.

"Hey, Mr. Hiroko who did you say was buying this thing?" The room went silent, Mr. Hiroko was having a hard time believing that Shogun was still obsessing over the doll, but the owl man and Viper knew better. Shogun had one job in life, to make people dead, which meant that other men who were employed to either protect people or kill the people employing Shogun spent a lot of time trying to kill him. The only reason why Shogun had lived so long was because he was very good at noticing when something was out of place, and he usually spotted it before even he knew what that something was.

"Answer the question man," The owl man demanded of Mr. Hiroko.

"It was actually to Iruma Tomomitsu, you know the guy running for mayor, he's the one who wanted to buy it from me. Put out a huge call to any antique collector who could find it, offered twice its worth for the damn thing."

Viper and the owl man jumped up from their seats. Tomomitsu seemed like the typical incompetent but well meaning Politian, which was much better than the capable bastards that the opposition usually put up. But in reality he was a tricky and dangerous bastard, who shook your hand with one hand and blew cyanide into your face with the other. If he had offered a huge reward for anything one could be certain of two things, no one was going to see a dime of their money, and they were going to lose a lot more than a possession or two because of it. Sure enough, after straining their ears for just a moment, one could detect the wail of sirens in the distance heralding tomorrow's headline, 'local brothel bust turns lethal leaving four suspects dead.'

"BLOODY HELL!" Viper exclaimed as he rushed for the door, regretting that he had broken anything for the first time in his life. Shogun was right behind him as the owl man asked if there was by any chance a back door to the place.

It was already too late though. Two police officers were striding through the antique shop with a look of, 'What do we have here?' on their faces. They weren't real cops, sure they had the badges and had taken the oath but they weren't real cops. Down in their hearts they were really just Yakuza who didn't like the thought of people shooting back so they dressed up like cops and started doing the dirty work from men like Iruma Tomomitsu. Behind them four other 'cops in name only' were interviewing the cashier. Of course the SWAT team, which was just outside waiting for an excuse to make their entrance and sweep the place, was a real group of cops, damn dangerous ones at that to.

Shogun walked straight up to the cops and blocked their path with his sizeable bulk, behind him Viper seemed to be using him as a human shield. The cops stopped when they saw the big man with his nice large stick and simply stared at him for a moment.

"What's with the stick big fellah?" asked one of the cops, "Makes it look like you're trying to start a game of pick up baseball." The big man made no response.

"You know I wonder how hard a guy like him can swing that thing? I bet he thinks he looks so cool with that thing over his shoulder, it's kind of useless in a world filled with these little babies though." The other cop said while tapping his firearm in a casual way to suggest that Shogun did not want to see him use.

"Do you really want to know why I carry this stick?" The big man said ignoring the last comment, "It cause I am a big man and finding a good coat is very hard these days. So I carry this stick so that everyone looks at my stick and ignores that my coat doesn't fit quite right."

He then threw the stick in a casual way to the cop who had tapped their gun, forcing him to bring his hands up to catch it, while the other cop looked away for just the wrong moment. No one could ever say where Shogun drew his gun from, but nonetheless it was there in his hand the moment the other cop looked away. It was a big gun, a desert eagle with a long silencer attached to it. Shogun squeezed the trigger and watched as fire sparked from the gun with a satisfying 'thump' that told your target he was screwed without letting the whole neighborhood know what had happened. The bullet tore through the air, and through the cop's chest before it embedded itself in the floor behind him. A second shot opened up a new express rout through the other cop's head.

As the two cops fell to the floor, Viper ran up to them, grabbed their guns and did a barrel role to the front door. All the cops in the antique shop were all lined up nice and neat around the cashier. Five loud cracks shattered the earth as five hot rounds of led erupted from the two pistols becoming the last sounds and the last sensations that four men ever experienced. Shogun grabbed Viper by the back of the neck and pulled him out the door while he pulled a table up to it with his other hand. Outside the Swat team climbed out of their van and stormed the shop.

"The side door is jammed!" Mr. Hiroko exclaimed.

"Viper, break it down." Ordered the owl man

"There's no time, get in the office room," Viper responded.

Inside the office Shogun turned the desk over and they waited. Time slowed. The front door broke down as the swat team pored through the abandoned brothel. The window to the office door broke as a tear gas grenade came through. Viper grabbed it and threw it out. The last shots of his two pistols ripped through the door. The response cut him down as five bullets came back out of the door. The door broke down and two Swat team members came through. Shogun screamed as he shot the first one down, but the second one put three rounds into the owl man.

Rage erupted through Shogun at the sight of his friends being shot as he emptied his clip into the swat team member, but then the last one came through and Shogun was out of bullets.

_Crap! _Shogun thought in that final moment as the police man trained his gun sights on him, _Mama always warned that my temper would be the death of me._ The police man squeezed the trigger on his automatic rifle three bullets ripped out of his barrel at the now unarmed man. Just another day in hell came to its end in that instant as a very extraordinary day murdered it. Glass shattered as the bullets found an unforeseen obstacle which didn't seem to mind the three rounds of hot lead embedding themselves in it. It looked like an arm, and impossible large arm with an impossible large hand which was connected to a boy with white hair who looked to be about twelve years old.

There was utter silence as Shogun realized that there was suddenly too much life in this room. He was still alive, and that shouldn't be, his buddies were still alive, and he was convinced they had been dead a few moments ago. Also the doll was alive as well; it now looked more like a kid than anything else. Its faded yellow skin was alive with color once more, he was moving and his eyes were filled with energy. Deadly energy at that too, raw untainted anger poured forth from every fiber of this kids being. He wasn't just enraged; he was berserk, totally lost in a wild furry that seemed to ignite everything around him. 'If looks could kill…" the old saying goes, but this kid was not satisfied with only allowing his eyes to do their work.

"No one attacks my master." He stated in a low matter of fact way as if the words were exhausted after fighting their way through all the curses and cries that the kid wanted to say. At the same moment, the three bullets that had hit his gloves fell off and hit the floor. The cop allowed his eyes to follow their fall, so he never saw the kid move. Of course, Shogun was staring at the kid and he never saw him move either.

One moment this kid with his oversized gloves was standing perfectly still, the next he was three feet behind the cop his right glove replaced by a long crimson blade. The other members of the swat team stood frozen staring at this kid with his long sword as their comrade literally fell apart.

After that the only thing that Shogun heard was the screams. Then a few moments later, there was not a sound at all. The question 'who hell is this kid?' crossed his mind but Shogun quickly decided that he did not honestly want that question answered so he grabbed the owl man and Viper and ran through the door. He didn't look at the dead cop; he didn't look for what had happened to the other cops he only looked at the door which he ran to a break neck speed. Fueled by adrenalin and with no concern for anything at all save survival, Shogun dropped his shoulder and ran through the previously jammed door. By now the sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and Shogun vanished into the dark grey world that greeted him. Another day in hell had come to an end

Outside one of hell's agents who had infiltrated what should have been the realm of heaven was standing looking into the brothel. He looked like a business man dressed in a nice white suit with a friendly smile on his face. He was angry, he had paid good money for those cops and that little bastard had gone a broken them all. He was also excited, it was everything he ever imagined and even more. He couldn't wait to get it. Next to him stood a small boy who looked to be about twelve years old. He wore a similar vest to the boy who had been in the brothel, but his hair was black and his gloves looked more like the heads of two grand insects then like actual gloves. His face also looked like it was covered in bits of glass, and he was not happy. He was jealous, jealous that the other boy had been able to cut up all those police officers and that he hadn't. Jealousy consumed him, jealousy of the battle, jealousy of the girls who lived in a world of pleasure, and jealousy of the man who had escaped. He wanted to meet that man, very badly. He wanted to meet him, and he wanted to break him, for that's how jealousy works, it's how he had always worked.

End of Chapter 1.


	3. Chapter 2: King of Anger, Lord of Hell

Chapter 2: King of Anger, Lord of hell

"Yes sir, that was us sir…."

"No sir, I would not say it went well at all…"

"Yes sir, it was the new Mayor…"

"Yes sir, I do think that he needs to learn how things are run around here…"

"No sir, I probably shouldn't be the one to do it…"

"Yes sir, I understand the importance of separating business from my personal life…"

"Yes sir I do think that they will live…"

"Well sir, he's got three shots in him but nothing bad, a grazed shoulder and he's lost his left kidney so he will have to lay off the sauce for a while but he will live…."

"He's in some deep crap right now sir, four hits total, three in his right lung have deflated it and the hit to his right arm broke the bone…"

"No sir, he'll live, the bullets are out, the bleeding has stopped, and I have set his arm, so his situation has stabilized. I am worried about that lung though, he needs a professional or else he's sunk…"

"Yes sir, you know Viper, you'd have to break his neck to keep him out of a brawl, and even then he'd still try to bite your ankles…"

"I am at the old Aito place, sir, outside of the old movie theater…"

"Yes sir that is kind of close, but I was carrying two bleeding men at the time…"

"No sir, you don't have to worry about old man Aito at all. He knows how the world works and what's in the best interest of the neighborhood…"

"Yes sir, Hiroko lived…"

"No sir, he was the only witness…"

"Yes sir, I have his most recent ledger, I grabbed it before I left…"

"No sir, I doubt that a man like Hiroko would've left something as important as his business ledgers at a future crime scene…"

"Yes sir, someone should check up on him, and make sure he's doing all right…"

"Well sir, I intend to close up this last hole in Viper's chest, then I am going to relieve myself, take a shower, and then I will probably sleep for the next week or two…"

"Yes sir, I will call you first thing when I wake up…"

"You have a goodnight as well sir."

Aito took the cell phone away from Shogun's ear as he finished his conversation with Mr. Sanji. Aito then retook his place on the opposite side of the increasingly bloody body, as Shogun put the last few stitches into his friend and finished up. Aito had known Shogun for so long that even he had forgotten what Shogun's real name was. Aito had never seen Shogun so quiet in the face of blood before, and that frightened the hell out of him. Shogun was a man of rage and hatred against the world. He had lost his parents to gang violence when he was very young but that was no excuse for some of things that he did growing up. In a town divided by lines of loyalty as old the city itself, Shogun had sided with no one and against the world. How he ever lived through those early years, Aito never really understood. In those days he would plunge into any brawl and take on everyone. Even when the one of the gangs had run away, he was still in the midst of it, one man on a few dozen. It helped that he was a big as an ox and a berserker by nature.

By the time Shogun turned fourteen he ran the streets by pure fear. He won the fights against dozens of enemies, and when he fought he broke bones. So the other boys stopped fighting, because they were afraid that he would find out and join the fight. That's when Aito nicknamed him Shogun, because he kept the peace by force. Even that hadn't satisfied him though, if nothing else it made him even more dangerous since he no longer had the constant fighting to diffuse his rage, he made any fight life threatening. Mr. Sanji had rescued from that anger, he had taught Shogun how to be patient, to let other's take his anger and act on it, and above all, how to keep his anger a secret.

Of course Shogun was Shogun, and there would be hell to pay for this. All his anger was hanging back and waiting for that moment, when hell was paid in full and Mr. Aito wanted to be very far away when that happened. It was even worse now that Mr. Sanji had forbidden Shogun from going after Iruma Tomomitsu and getting proper vengeance. No, Shogun has to find a new target, and with his two good buddies shot up like this, Shogun doesn't have a lot of time before going mental.

"There," Shogun said as he finished his impromptu surgery, "That should hold till a real doctor can get a look at him."

"Will a real doctor come for him?" Mr. Aito asked.

"Mr. Sanji wouldn't ask for my location unless he intended to send someone. He should show up in a few days, brown coat, western looking man with thick glasses, you'll know him when you see him."

"Won't you be here to receive him?"

"No I have business to take care of."

"You shouldn't go Mr. Shogun, you look tired, and you should stay here and get some sleep."

"Sleep? I have seven days to sleep. First I have to pee, then I have to shower, then I will sleep and not before."

With that Shogun left and soon vanished out of the building into dead air of the early morning. Then sun was still not up and Shogun danced around the streetlights, invisible to everyone save the demons that fed off his rage. Mr. Aito sighed at the sight of him leaving. Death was in the air and it was stalking that young man like a hunter after a deer.

Skip

Jed was a westerner whose father had come over at the end of the war. He had fallen in love with the country and decided to stay. He had met Jed's mom in the late sixties and they had fallen in love. It was his second marriage and she was much younger then he was and eager to have a big family. Jed was their sixth son and he loved the country as much as his father did. He would have joined the defense forces to be soldier like his father was, but his grades weren't good enough to make officer, so he settled for being a street cop.

He thought that the whole business would be chasing bad guys who would give up after a good stretch of the legs or a few exciting miles up the free way. But this, this just shattered his soul. Fourteen dead cops, not just dead but mutilated and diced up it was real bad business. Jed would have given anything to get his hands on the jerk responsible for this. Till then, though, he had to do a job like guarding the crime scene till the investigators woke up and showed up. The worst part of it was the smell, the dried blood and the now rotting guts. There were flies everywhere and the warm night was not helping the situation. When the man came out of the shadows and greeted Jed he nearly jumped out his skin.

"Good evening sir," the shadow man began, "I am detective Takehiko I am with Crime Scene Investigations, Sixth division. Are you the man in charge here?"

The shadow man flashed Jed some identification which seemed to confirm what he had said. Mr. Takehiko was rather tall, to be honest, and wore a brown trench coat and was carrying a small briefcase and a camera bag.

Jed took the badge and simply stared at it for a moment before responding, "We were told the crime scene team wouldn't be arriving till much later tonight. Why are you here?"

"I am the team photographer," He said as he began heading into the antique shop "I was staying late the office developing some photos, when I heard the call. So I finished up and came here, the faster the scene can be photographed the better. Once I am done all the other members can get their jobs done faster."

_Makes sense,_ Jed thought to himself _He certainly looks like he knows what he is doing_. "Well," Jed said as they entered the building, "This is where four of the cops died, the other ten are in that room over there behind that door, I'll warn you it ain't pretty."

"In this business kid, you get used to dirty crime scenes."

The detective got right to work taking photographs of every square inch of the room. The man was methodic and totally objective, no visible emotion of any kind as he catalogued the last moments of four good lives. It was boring to watch, and slightly disturbing. Jed soon left with a disgusted look on his face. How could anyone be so passive in the face of such carnage? Merely thinking about it made Jed angry as hell; he couldn't stand the thought of that man going through the other room like that.

Outside Jed's partner Suzume Yuzuki was waiting for him with an equally disgusted look on his face. "Who's the freak with the camera?"

"Some detective from Crime scene," Jed responded.

"Jeeze, look at him, no emotion, no disgust, how can he work like that? He must have seen some pretty freaky crap in his life."

"Yeah he must have; strange thing is though, he doesn't look a day older than me but he called me kid."

"Some guy's age faster than others, don't underestimate crime scene. It's one thing to have to guard crap like this, it's quite another to have to wade though it to make a living."

"Yeah I guess you're right; I just hope he keeps to himself back there."

Skip

Shogun was always amazed where some cheep forgeries and a look of authority could get him in life. Five minutes on his home computer and a quick conversation with some rooky cop, and now he had free access to his own crime scene. As he moved to the back room and left the cop's line of sight, he set the camera down and set it on auto flash. Every few seconds it took a picture creating a façade of flashes to satisfy the police outside. He immediately headed to the back office.

A few moments of examination proved that Mr. Hiroko had taken all of the documents he kept here with him. He double checked the desk and picked the safe to make sure. After that he took out a bottle of cheap rat gut and poured it over the walls and floor where his comrades had fallen he also mixed in a bit of oil and gasoline he found tucked back in a corner of Mr. Hiroko's office. He then grabbed his camera and pulled out his gun. He opened up the fuse box and grabbed a hold of one of the vases the girls decorated their stations with. He dropped the vase and pulled the trigger on his silenced desert eagle.

Seconds later an Asian cop poked his head in through the door and asked, "Is everything all right back there?"

"I'm fine, just tripped over a vase back here, could you turn on the lights? It's pretty hard to see."

The lights flipped on and a few sparks jumped out of the fuse box. It was now only a matter of time till the fumes of the alcohol and gasoline reached the sparks and then the whole place would go up in smoke. Now Shogun just had to deal with the cops and he would be in the clear. After taking a few more pictures Shogun made his way out of the brothel and back to the two cops standing guard.

"Well I am done in there," He said as he casually looked at his watch, "You know the other members of the team aren't going to be here for another hour or so, so do you want to get some coffee?"

Jed turned to his partner who returned his look of desperation, both cops were eager to get away from the smell of death. So they agreed and Shogun took them off into the night. A few minutes later they came across a Starbucks that was still opened despite being deserted. They made their orders and Shogun went to pick them up. It was good coffee and good coffee is a godsend to any policeman, with a few moments Shogun had them laughing and joking and swapping stories of what they had seen. As time passed Shogun left and got them more coffee and soon enough one of the cops had to go relieve himself. Shogun said that he had to go too and joined the Japanese cop in the bathroom.

Shogun didn't really have to go since he didn't put the same drug in his coffee that he had put in the cop's coffee. Nonetheless he headed into one of the stalls and checked out the small window it had at the back. It was inconveniently placed but it would do and best of all there was a dumpster beneath it. He finished quickly, pulled out a thin metal wire and got to work.

Skip

Jed was finishing up his coffee and wondering how long it took to go to the bathroom. He had been wrong about this Takehiko feller; sure he had seen some messed up damn crap in his career but what cop hadn't? He was still a riot to be with the sort of feller who one could really learn a thing or two from. Just when Jed was thinking about going in to check on the two Takehiko came running out of the room with a terrified look on his face.

"The brothel's on fire! You can just see the flames from the bathroom window!"

"What!" Jed exclaimed, "Where's Yuzuki?"

"Calling for back up, come on we got to get up there."

Jed hit the street running with Takehiko right behind him. It was a long sprint up the streets till the crime scene came into view. Jed nearly tripped over himself when he saw that it was not on fire. He stopped and stared at it for a moment, then he said, "Wait a minute it's not on fire at all. What's the deal here?"

"The deal is that your now out of the coffee shop and looking away from me," Shogun replied as he tightened the small steal wire around Jed's throat, kicked his legs forward and quickly dragged him back into an alley. Jed grabbed wildly at the wire and tried to scream out for help but not a sound made it out of his throat. He tried to kick his aggressor, but his legs were blocked. He tried to drag himself away when suddenly Shogun yanked him up in the air and dropped him back down. His strength began to drain, the world started to darken. He screamed at his body to keep to fighting, he refused to die here. It was too late, as his brain used up its last bit of oxygen and fresh blood he blacked out.

Moments later, Shogun dropped the second body into the dumpster and began to pour alcohol and motor oil over them. He then dropped the lids to the dumpster and cracked the side grate as he lit a match and threw it in there. Shortly thereafter, the real crime scene investigation unit showed up to find that their crime scene was on fire. The fire team was so busy trying to keep one crime scene from burning down that they never noticed the second one.

Mr. Hiroko lived in the projects, though he was a fairly wealthy man. He lived there because he never really understood that money could be used for things other than collecting it. He had a tremendous amount of money but he neither invested it nor used it much, he loathed to part with it. So he lived in a rundown apartment building which was half abandoned. Outside of the apartment was an unused lot where some of the neighborhood kids would play baseball from time to time. Mr. Hiroko's room bordered on the dirt lot and he often enjoyed watching the kids play ball. This night, however, he was in a very foul mood.

In one day Mr. Hiroko had lost his business, had lost an awful lot of money, and was now endangered of going to jail again, this time not just for owning a brothel but also for killing police officers. Mr. Hiroko did not handle stress well, and so when he came home and saw that a baseball had broken one of his windows he hit the roof.

The neighborhood kids scattered into the night as Mr. Hiroko swore to hunt them down and murder them. Several of the kids returned the threat as they vanished into the shadows. As they left, Mr. Hiroko went straight to work gathering up important documents, and business ledgers and every other kind of record he could think off. Everything from his calendar to his contacts for bulk contraception pills went into a little suitcase. He also packed up every single scrap of clothing he had and then sat down to rest his eyes for just a moment. Several hours later, just before the morning sun broke the horizon, Mr. Hiroko awoke to the sound of a crash and some breaking glass. He immediately stormed to the window and began shouting every profanity that he could think off to an empty sand lot.

The fact that there were no kids in the lot below did not stop Mr. Hiroko from continuing to curse and swear awful vengeance at his imaginary foes. He was so wrapped up in his verbal assault that he did not hear the door open.

"You damn, blasted, hell spawned little bastards, I'll murder every one of ya, just wait till I get down there I'll make balloon animals out of your guts! You've broken one too many windows this night! There's going to be hell to pay!"

"Mr. Hiroko!" a childish voice said from behind him,

"WHAT?!!?" He responded,

"Duck!" He didn't.

CRACK! Thump! The metal baseball bat vibrated slightly like a singing sword of old as Mr. Hiroko hit the ground with his neck turned sideways. Shogun bent down to check his pulse, it had already stopped, the spinal cord had snapped so the heart wasn't being told to pump. Good, a nice clean kill to end the night with.

Shogun double checked all of the cabinets to make sure Mr. Hiroko hadn't forgotten anything. He then unpacked all his clothes, picked up the briefcase and headed down stairs. Anyone watching him descend the stairs would have wondered why he always took a step back after going two steps forward. Anyone listening to him descend would have tried very hard not to come out and look at what surely was a horde of hooligans running away from a murder scene.

After a quick jog to a dumpster a few blocks away, Shogun set the briefcase on fire and dropped it into the dumpster. On the other side of town he could hear the wailing sirens of fire trucks and cop cars rushing to the scene of his earlier escapade. The growing chaos of the night made Shogun smile as he lighted a cigarette. Back on the streets he had lived by the rule that if sirens didn't sound by the end of the night he had done something wrong. Mr. Sanji had corrected him so that now he knew that a job was only satisfactory if the sirens were sounding very, very far away from him.

Mr. Sanji was the closest thing Shogun had ever known to god. Not a father, nor a leader, he was god in everything but name only to Shogun. He had taken him out of the gutter, taught him to control his anger, given him plenty of chances to express that anger, and he had given Shogun a pair of great friends. That thought took Shogun right back to his friends bleeding in some apartment complex, suffering because some cop had poked their nose where it didn't belong. Anger surged through Shogun's being, but he bit it back. It was harder to suppress now, it knew. It knew that business was over; it knew that now it had its chance to be relieved. Shogun had taken a pee, now he was ready to shower. The thing about Shogun, though, was that he liked to shower in blood and fire.

Skip

Miss. Yuuta was known by all the cops in the building as mama. She was their dispatcher, the girl in charge of sending them where they needed to go and the one who sent them help when things went south. She gave them direction and help, in other words she was mama. It helped that she also gave them help with plenty of other things as well. She gave advice whenever they needed it, she had repaired more socks than any unmarried woman should be legally allowed to, and in a pinch she had done some first aid that saved a life or two. She was mama, and she was concerned.

Jed and Yuzuki had been gone for three days. She had sent them out to guard a crime scene till the investigators showed up and no one had heard heads or tails of them since. The fact that the crime scene had burned down did not comfort her. Neither did the fact that there were already fourteen cops dead at that scene, and now two more had gone missing because of it. She was a bundle of nerves and had taken up smoking again because of it all. Several of the other girls on the dispatch had suggested that she head home, a nervous dispatcher was not what the boys or the people calling 911 needed.

"911 emergency response, what is the situation?"

"Yuuta? Is that you? God you don't know how good it is to hear a familiar voice." It was Yuzuki! His voice was just above a whisper; Yuuta knew he was in trouble.

"Yuzuki! Where have you been, we haven't heard heads or tails of you in days!"

"I was kidnapped, Yakuza or something there holding me on the corner of Komazawa Dori and Meiji Dori and I need back up. There's at least a dozen of them all heavily armed. I need a SWAT team asap."

Yuuta didn't need to be told twice. She barked off the situation to every cop on the radio and the teams started to poor out to their targets. Her station was far away from Yuzuki's location so none of the officers would go, but that didn't stop one of the swat teams from climbing into their van and speeding off. Cops did not leave cops in deep crap like this, and when a call for a swat team goes out, all of them go.

Skip

Seconds after the swat van left another one pulled up and took its place. The only cop in the garage looked cross eyed at the van as it pulled in. He knew that something was wrong when one of the black ops cops stepped out of the van with his helmet closed blocking any view of his face.

"What's the matter?" He asked as the lone swat team member walked towards him, "Forget something?"

The swat team member pulled a small thin black box, no bigger than his hand out of his pocket and pointed it at the cop. He then pushed a little button which released a small but powerful spring, which then pushed a thin but sharp piece of metal out of the box at a very high speed. The little piece of metal embedded itself into the cop's neck, causing him to fall over on the ground gasping for air.

The killer stepped over the body opened up the door to the main station and threw four little smoke grenades through the door. He then pushed through the door and swept a corner of the room with fire from his AK47. Five cops hit the ground and the killer dropped behind a nearby desk and thought to himself, _Four minutes. _He dropped a heat sensitive goggle over one of his eyes and rolled to the right. The smoke had filled the room, the cops were now nothing more than little blobs of heat with a vaguely man-like outline; he brought his gun up and squeezed the trigger. Four more dropped, he then rushed into another room and dropped another five. Six more dropped in the next room; a minute had passed and the bottom floor was clear.

The killer came to the stairs and caught two cops as they made their way down, he then threw a small stick of dynamite up the stairs to keep them company. After the explosion, the cops upstairs dropped to the floor, and their heat signs became visible through the ceiling. The killer looked up and started sending bullets through the floor. Several cops died lying down, the rest panicked and retreated to a floor up. Two minutes had passed.

The killer go to work, he grabbed four bundles of dynamite and started to duck tape them to key parts of the buildings infrastructure. He fired a few rounds up into the ceiling every now and then to keep the cops panicky. His work only took him about a minute and a half, and then he could hear the sirens of reinforcements on their way. He hid his Ak47 under a desk, and grabbed a police rifle. Then he started dragging the bodies of wounded men out of the building and into the garage. He got three loaded into his van when another cop came into the garage. The cop didn't see the killer, he saw a swat team member dragging wounded men out of a hot zone.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Some nut cases with heavy ordinances burst into the building, I was in the armory. They moved up to the second floor, and we have got to get these guys to a hospital."

The cop agreed and together they pulled two more guys out of the building and loaded them into the van. The swat team member climbed in as the cop took up a defensive position by the door. The van then pulled out of the building and into the streets. Outside there were dozens of cops gathered around, but no ambulances yet. All the killer had to do get past them was say he had wounded in the back and they had to get to a hospital. Moments later the van was out on the open road speeding away with total immunity to the law. About a minute after that, the bombs exploded in the police station and forty good men lost their lives.

Skip

As Shogun pulled into an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town, he pulled off his mask and breathed deeply. He had showered, he had peed, and his brothers could sleep in peace. On the whole it had been a good day to close out a good week. That good day came to end, however, when it was murdered by another extraordinary day, which would begin one of the weirdest weeks in Shogun's life.

It all started when Shogun opened to door to swat van and saw a twelve year old boy jump out at him. The boy had long silver hair the bent sideways and big round eyes. He grabbed Shogun and hugged him like Shogun was his long lost father. He then jumped back and shouted:

"That was totally wicked! I saw you going to the police station and I thought, there's no way he's going to do it; but you totally did it. You were all like totally bad ass and you ripped them to pieces. And they were all like, were going to getcha then you were all like, 'I am actually a cop,' then they just ignored you and now you're totally free. You totally showed them all up…"

For a moment Shogun just sort of stared at the boy as he jumped up and down and recounted everything Shogun had done in the last four days, backwards. Normally he would have shot the boy by now, but Shogun excelled at two things in life, one was shooting people the other was realizing when something was about to go horribly wrong or was simply out of place. Thus, when someone did manage to surprise him he was honestly surprised. As soon as he came out of this stupor he shot the boy and started to go back over his day. He was silent for a solid thirty seconds simply trying to think of a time when the boy could have climbed into his van.

He wasn't in the police station, and he sure as hell wasn't in the van when he loaded up the bodies. The boy seemed to know what Shogun had been doing for the last few days and that really worried Shogun. Shogun kept on going over the last few days in his mind over and over and over again, and then a small part of his mind mentioned the fact that he had shot the boy but no one had hit the floor.

The white haired boy was standing in the back of the van with an injured look of innocence on his face. There was also a bullet on his face, not in his face, just lodged in his forehead right between his eyes like a huge black head. When their eyes met the boy looked down at the floor like he was expecting to be yelled at and the bullet fell to the floor.

"Don't you remember me master?" the boy asked as he rubbed his forehead with one of his huge hands.

The sight of those hands sparked some deep memory in Shogun that almost made him feel sorry for having shot the boy, but it also reminded him that he had seen him before.

"You're the boy from the brothel, the one that Hiroko was going to sell." The boy nodded his head and Shogun continued, "What's your name boy?"

"You already know that master, I woke up when you said it." Shogun's mind raced back to the night trying to remember what he had said, only to find that another part of his mind already had the name ready.

"Rage, Rage the wrathful?" Shogun said in a confused voice as if he was guessing.

The boy nodded, he then looked up and asked, "Did I do something wrong when I killed those blue men?"

"No, no not at all, you saved my life back there."

"Then why did you shoot me master? What did I do wrong?"

"Shot you cause you were in my van, and no one is supposed to be in my van."

"But I was in your van when you loaded the bodies, you didn't shoot me then." Rage said like a kid who's trying to worm their way out a spanking.

"I didn't see you in the van." Which Shogun still thought was very odd.

"But you were being sneaky, you told me never to reveal myself when you're being sneaky." Rage said in that appealing voice that only a child in lawyer mode can summon.

"When did I tell you that?"

"Back when you were stalking Bandit King Yamato you told me to keep myself hidden whenever we weren't alone or weren't fighting." Rage said in a confused voice as if he expected Shogun to already know this.

"Who's Bandit King Yamato?"

"Oh, he's god's master." Rage concluded in very matter of fact kind of way.

Skip

Very far away, in the top of a very high building a group of very ordinary looking business men sat down to talk about the business. They were the five most powerful men in the Tokyo underworld, they were so powerful that they could talk about the business without worrying that anyone was going to spy on them. They did this because all the spies in Tokyo, from the police contacts, to the prison snitches, were on their pay role and wouldn't dare spy on their bosses. Amongst them was Mr. Sanji.

Mr. Sanji owned the docks of Tokyo; nothing came into the city unless he allowed it to and got a cut of the goods. He also owned the south eastern side of the city and all of its suburbs. He ran an efficient business, with only a handful of Bureaucrats between himself and the street gangs. It made him rather vulnerable to assassination but impossible to arrest. One word and he could bring Tokyo into siege, and he had done that once already in his life.

As for assassinations, he had Shogun and Dynamo for that. Dynamo was Shogun's reflection. He was clam, short and thin. He preferred bombs to any other weapon. While Shogun was damn near psychic with his ability to figure out when something was about to happen, Dynamo had so many contacts throughout the city that any assassin would be detected, misdirected, and eradicated within a few days of arriving. Dynamo caught the plots, and Shogun smashed the opportunistic betrayals.

Of course both had their problems which occasionally had to be dealt with. Dynamo was a gay pedophile who was also very interested in local government and what he could do to make his fetish legal. Shogun on the other hand, was simply a hyper aggressive knuckle head. He had no self restraint and he had no sense of self preservation. With Dynamo the problem was that one day Mr. Sanji would learn that Dynamo was half way through a well planned revolution that would reform the Tokyo government to make it pro-pedophile. Not the whole country, just Tokyo, he had all planned out to take over Tokyo and make it an independent heaven for pedophiles separate from the rest of Japan. Shogun on the other hand, simply woke up on certain mornings with the irrepressible urge to kill people in vast numbers.

Today Shogun had done just that. At three thirty in the afternoon, he stormed a police station and killed forty seven men. Normally the occasional suicide attack was fairly useful for a Yakuza, it got rid of a hyper aggressive knuckle head, taught the police a lesson and created a brief period of peace and quiet that Yakuza thrived in. Shogun however, did not understand that part of the suicide attack included the idea that he died in them.

Shogun was too good at his job to simply die in an attack. He was in and out in under four minutes, never wasted a shot and trashed his gun to the point that no one could identify it beyond the model. No physical evidence was left, no one had seen his face, and no one had even seen him do it. The security tapes were trashed in the explosion and everyone on the ground floor died. Most of the people on the second floor died, and those who didn't could only say that their heard gunshots and screaming. No one knew how he had escaped either, but knowing Shogun he probably did something as simple as walking out a back door.

The problem was that cops were going to be angry about this. They don't know who did this, and they don't know how to find him, but they were going to and then they were going to kill him. There was going to be a huge crack down on crime in response to this as frustrated cops took out their rage on the common crook. This of course led to the idea that Shogun's actions were 'bad for business' and to Yakuza the only word that was worse than the phrase 'bad for business' was the word 'disloyal.' People who were 'disloyal' and 'bad for business' were not long for this world. The problem with that was that Sanji liked Shogun, and that in the past seventy two hours he had shaken down a brothel, saved the lives of two useful men, erased all evidence that could point the crime to Sanji or his men, and had now thrown the cops out on a wild goose chase. Useful men like Shogun were hard to come by and worth their weight in gold.

"We can't allow mere hit man to go about with so much freedom!" One of the business men nearly shouted.

"The repercussions of this will take years to sort out." Another added.

"There is talk of calling in the army." A third lamented.

"Rumor has it that Shogun has already been arrested." The forth speculated.

BANG! Sanji hit the table with his arm, silencing the group. He then said in a low voice, "There is not a cop alive who can arrest Shogun."

"But you must admit you have heard nothing of him since the incident."

"Shogun will call in four days, that is a given. So is the fact that even if they tried to arrest him there would be more dead cops on the news." Sanji said in a matter of fact voice.

"No one can…" One of the business men started, BANG, Sanji hit the table again to silence him. Shogun's arrest was not up for discussion. The other warlords took the hint.

Sanji continued, "Listen, and listen good. Shogun did not kill those cops as an act of business or under my orders. He acted on his own for his own reasons. Therefore I will deal with him. Got that? I will deal with him. If I turn him over to the cops, or cover his ass, or kill him myself, that's my call, and the lot of you will but out of it."

"This event includes and affects us all, you can't shut us out."

"If one of your lieutenants gets caught in a brothel, it's up to lord to either kill him of bail him out, same applies here."

"This is a bit more serious than a sex scandal. People are dead, you can't ignore that"

"I can't and I won't but pay attention to this. Shogun is the real god damned deal, he just walked into a police station and killed fifty men in four minutes."

"And what does that have to do with us Sanji?"

"It means if you want more dead cops on the news, or dead assassins, send your men after him and try to sell him out, if you want this dealt with quietly and peacefully, leave it to me."

"Don't underestimate us Sanji."

"Do you think that someone like Shogun would have lived through the formation wars if you all could have him killed with a word or could just send some punk off the street after him? Don't underestimate me Hojiro and don't use my name at these meetings."

There was a silence that made several men reach for their guns in the shadows. Then one of the five asked, "So what are we going to do about Iruma?"

"He's my man," One of the five said, all the politicians in Tokyo were in the pockets of the five Yakuza. "I'll deal with him, but if you want it Sanji I understand."

"No, no," Sanji said, "You take care of your own, you don't have kill him for my sake either. Use your own judgment."

"I'll rough him up a bit make sure he doesn't do this again."

"That will work." One of the men confirmed and the other three agreed.

Skip

"Alright, run this by me one last time." Shogun asked of Rage as they sat in the empty warehouse while eating ice-cream. After Shogun heard Rage's comment about god, he had flipped out and cursed at Rage, all this weirdness was starting to get to him. Rage then started crying and the only way that Shogun had managed to calm him down was with ice-cream.

"I am a Karakuri Doji. A living doll created back in the 12th century by the brilliant professor Dunstan. Dunstan created us as personifications of good and evil so that he could discover whether good or evil was truly stronger. There are fifteen Doji, the six perfection and the seven deadly sins each side is led by one of the ultimates. I am Rage one of the seven deadly sins, our leader is Vice the ultimate evil. Our enemy is led by Ultimo the ultimate good. Karakuri Doji have nearly unlimited powers and professor Dunstan told us to all find a master. We all found our masters back in the 12th century and now our masters have been reincarnated. You're my master and I have come back to you."

Shogun was silent for a while as he processed this; then he asked, "If you're an all powerful personification of rage, what do you need a master for?"

"We can't manifest all of our powers without a master. Any Doji who does into battle without a master is doomed. Also while Dunstan guaranteed that we will be evil or good by limiting our souls to simply evil or good portions the knowledge of what is good or evil is not inherent to us. We need masters to show us how to act out what's in our souls."

"Why me?" Shogun asked more to the gods then to Rage.

"When I met you in the past you were a master at using your rage to dominate the battlefield you have not changed at all in that time. You are still a berserker that I can learn a lot from."

Shogun simply stared at the boy for a moment, wondering whether or not this little boy, standing in front of him eating ice-cream without a care in the world, could really be a personification of wrath. Two thoughts forced their way to his mind as he pondered this. One was a memory of the boy's eyes of the night before. There was nothing peaceful about those eyes or about what he did to five cops because of three bullets. The other was a clearer observation of the boy's hands. When he first saw those hands he wondered what they could be doing on a sex doll. There were out of place in a brothel, but they were perfect for the battle field. The gloves were crimson red with jagged edges and sharpened fingers. These were not kiddy gloves they had two purposes. One was to deflect any blow; the other was to make the one who threw that blow pay dearly for it.

Still this left Shogun with an awful lot to think about. He stood up and started pacing around the room. He was having a hard time grasping this all, something about this didn't make a lick of sense to him but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. _Of course something doesn't make sense, a twelve year old boy just claimed to be god and that he has known you for the last 900 years, _one thought declared. Another said, _No, there is something very right about all of that,_ another continued, _It's this Dunstan guy, he doesn't make a lick of sense._ _No it's the fact that you're arguing with some boy when you should be back by your friend's bedside. It's those hands. It's the spikes he's got coming out of his face. It's any of a hundred thousand other things about this like…_

"Master," Rage said as he interrupted an increasingly fierce argument in Shogun's soul, "Are you alright? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Help? Yeah, yeah sure." Shogun said half stirring from his thoughts, "Take the bodies and the van to a place the police will never find them." He finished without any serious thought about what he had said.

"Alright master." Rage then got up, walked over to the van in very calm way, picked up the van and took it outside. Once outside, he bent a bit at the knees and then jumped up in the air. Then there was a very loud noise, followed by a very bright light, which was replaced by a lot of smoke. A few seconds later, Rage left the upper atmosphere and threw the swat van into orbit around the planet. Shogun looked up at the trail of smoke left behind by his apprentice, while the thoughts, _He's flying,_ _He just picked up the van, _and _He's bullet proof_ awkwardly fused together into "A bullet proof boy, just flew out of here while carrying a van over his shoulder." A very deep portion of Shogun's mind then added, "And he's mine." There was something very right about that last part.


	4. Chapter 3: God of Anger, Demon Slayer

_I apologies that this took so long to write. Life happened is all that I really say. I hope it was worth the wait. Feel free to review this or any of my other chapters, I always love some feedback. Also this chapter will soon be followed by the next part of the prologue. Once Again let me say that I hope that anyone who stumbled across this enjoys it._

Chapter 3: The God of Anger and the Demon slayer

"We found them in a Dumpster about three blocks up from the murder scene," Professor Jamison began, "Well when I say we, I mean the garbage men did when they opened up the dumpster to empty it."

"How did they notice them?" Detective Morris asked.

"They smelled the burnt flesh when they opened it."

"The garbage men could tell the difference between burnt garbage and burnt flesh? Why didn't anyone else report it?"

"Garbage fires are quite common in that area, while most people just noticed the burnt garbage, the professionals noticed something off about the smell and started rooting through it and found these two."

Professor Jamison was a westerner who came to Japan because the pay was better than in the states, and because he had always enjoyed Japanese culture. He was a professional mortician who had been through so many corpses in his time that he could tell whether or not someone had been choked to death by a wire, or a rope, or a scarf by examining their fingernails. He stood five foot nine, had grey hair and a faint British accent. Detective Morris was here as a former FBI agent acting on behalf of Interpol. She stood five foot four, with brunet hair and green eyes, she was mostly muscle. She had been sent here to investigate the Shinagawa Police station bombing as a possible terrorist act, and so far she had investigated everything but the bombing. Still Jamison was not about to argue with her.

"So what have you found out?" She asked,

"They were burned quite badly, as you can see; dental records confirm that they are all that's left of officers Jed Jones and Suzume Yuzuki. They died at the same time and all physical evidence points to the burning as the cause of death. However, since both were found buried under burnt garbage, and since it is very difficult to persuade two cops to lay down while you burn them to death, they most likely died from other means or at least were knocked on conscience. They were not shot, and there is nothing to suggest they were knifed or beaten either. In my professional opinion they were mostly likely strangled to death, or knocked out by a precise blow to the neck. Both of which must have been done by a professional."

"How can you tell?"

"From the lack of evidence more than anything else. Most people would damage the spinal column from a clumsy blow or from the long struggle to choke their victim to death. Since there is no damage, they were taken down soft but perfect blow, or they died very quickly while being strangled; only a professional could've done either."

"How long have they been dead?"

"That can't be determined; too much of the flesh has been burned to tell what's fire damage and what's from rot. Since we have found fly eggs and larva in them I can say they have been dead for at least forty eight hours, but how much longer that I can't say."

One the police officers who had been collecting evidence for crime scene then added, "We have a witness who can testify that he noticed a fire burning in the dumpster Monday night, the same night that the main crime scene burned down."

"When did these two last report in?" The detective asked

"Sunday night at 11:15, the fire at the crime scene was reported at 1:30 Monday morning." Said Katsuruo Manami, who was one of detective Morris's police escorts.

"Also Yuuta the police dispatcher for the Shinagawa police station claims to have heard Yuzuki's voice on the day of the massacre. She sent out a general call to all the SAT teams to rescue him." Kouta Hitomi, the other escort, continued.

"The voice could have easily been faked if the perpetrator had a recording of Yuzuki's voice." Detective Morris responded, she continued, "Is there any physical evidence to reject the idea that this body has been dead for six days, professor?"

"None at all, but there is nothing to confirm it either." The professor responded, "We can check the dispatcher tapes to see if there was any sign tampering in Yuzuki's voice though."

"No we can't," Manami interrupted, "The tapes were destroyed along with most of the police station when the bombs went off. So it's Yuuta's voice against our witness."

"How is Yuuta doing?" Hitomi asked,

"She's still unconscious and in intensive care, it will be a while before we can interrogate her. Detective Morris do you think this had anything to do with the bombing?"

"Losing several men to a failed brothel bust, two men to the night, and forty seven men to a possible terrorist attack, all in the space of three days, is an awfully big coincident to be bad luck. These events are connected and I am going to find out why."

"Detective Morris!" A young officer shouted as he entered the room, "They found the squad car."

Morris jumped up and rushed for the door shouting, "I want an investigation team there now. Where did they find it?"

"At an illegal hack-shop, tip came in about half an hour ago, but they got it in mint condition."

Skip

Rage was very fast. Shogun still had not learned a whole lot about the small boy who called him master but he had conclusively determined that he was very fast. Not just in speed either. Rage learned things very quickly, he had already learned that Shogun liked being able to see him but didn't like seeing his massive hands or the spikes coming out of his mouth. Fortunately Rage had many abilities other then flight and his zero to mock three in half a second acceleration rate. He could help people see what they wanted to see, instead of the inconvenient sights that often were really there. People didn't like to see a boy standing around three butchered corpses so they didn't. If they didn't want to see his giant hands then they wouldn't, and if they were angry at the time then Rage could chose what they wanted to see for them.

Rage wasn't kidding about being a god of anger, the control he had over it was impressive. He knew how to make people very angry, he could control what they see while angry, and he could feel who around him was angry, where they were and what they were doing. He was already very good at allowing his rage to control his movements in battle. The only aspect of anger he couldn't control was his own. That or he was bipolar, Shogun couldn't tell which. One moment he was happily playing a version of catch that defied conventional physics with a bowling ball Shogun had found for him, (regular balls exploded from the air resistance) the next Shogun found himself leaping in front of an enraged supersonic ball of knives that was swearing eternal vengeance on the garbage men.

The knives were another strange thing, one that Shogun just couldn't take his mind off of. Rage's huge hands seemed to be made of some strange material that seamlessly switched from a solid to a liquid form in an instant. One moment, his hands were jagged and solid capable of stopping anything short of an anti-tank shell, the next they seemed to spaz out like a jelly monster that was being electrocuted. Afterwards they would have formed into a nine foot long broad sword which was now moving at a speed which also defied conventional physics.

Nonetheless, Shogun was really starting to enjoy Rage's presence. He reminded him of Viper, filled with such hatred for the world in general that he often forgot just who he was wailing on in mid punch. Rage seemed to be substituting random violence against anyone who wasn't Shogun for his inability to simply knee the universe in the groin and be done with it. Like Viper, though, Rage would stop if Shogun told him to, the problem was that Viper couldn't exceed the speed of sound and Rage could. Thus, while Shogun wasn't sure about a lot of things about Rage, he did know two things: first, Rage was very fast and second, if Shogun couldn't control him then he had to find away to kill him.

Shogun didn't have a clue about how to kill him though; of course the only thing he had tried so far was shooting him. Shooting people, typically worked though, and the only other ways that Shogun knew how to kill people were strangling, knifing, drowning, bludgeoning, high falls, explosives, burning and making something very large fall on them from high up. The problem with this is that these weren't back up in the event that shooting someone didn't work. These were the methods that Shogun used when shooting someone had immediate draw backs, Shogun had never met someone who wouldn't die if he shot them. Consequently, Shogun was very confused about how to go about this, and when a soldier gets confused about how to do their job they call their boss.

That was why the little bald man with the evil grin had come to the abandoned warehouse; he didn't have the evil grin when he first opened the door to the warehouse but he soon gained one upon seeing Rage casually tossing his ball up in the air. The man probably wouldn't have smiled if he could see that Rage was tossing a bowling ball in the air, but the man had an innocent view of children and Rage subconsciously enforced that view.

"Hey Shogun," The bald man called out, "Who's the kid."

Shogun took one look at the bald man and followed his dark eyes and wicked grin to Rage and said, "No! Don't even think about it Dynamo if you touch the kid I will kill you."

"So harsh Shogun, I come all the way down here to give you a lift and you yell at me? Me! Your old friend Dynamo of all people."

"You're not my friend Dynamo you're a pervert and if I had my way with it you'd be a dead pervert."

"Is that a challenge Shogun? Cause I would love to purge this organization of a close-minded brute like you!" Dynamo shouted as he pulled a pair of grenades out of his jacket. In the same instance Shogun pulled out his Eagle and trained it on Dynamo's forehead. There was a silence and stillness that Shogun thrived in and it was broken by Rage.

"Master can I kill him!" Rage asked in an excited voice that only slightly betrayed his rising passion. Shogun turned to him and saw his hand's shimmer as Rage struggled to hide the fact that they had already formed into some jagged killing implement.

"NO!" Shogun cried, not to get him wrong, he really did want to see Dynamo's head impaled on a large spike, but he was Mr. Sanji's and Shogun would never take something away from Mr. Sanji. "Mr. Dynamo is a business partner and we do not kill business partners, do we?"

"No master, we don't." Rage responded in a clearly disappointed voice.

Dynamo, who was quite confused at this point, retuned his grenades to his pocket and motioned towards the door as he tried to figure out just what that conversation had meant. Outside the three of them climbed into a car where a driver was waiting and they took off into the city.

"Seriously though," Dynamo said after a moment of trying to work out his confusion, "Who's the kid?"

Shogun motioned to the driver and said, "Who's this little bugger?"

"This is Byakuya, he is Mr. Sanji's chauffeur, he can be trusted, why?"

"Cause I have no idea who he is, I found him in the back of a van which was only filled with dead cops when I loaded it. He says he's here to learn how to be truly wrathful from me."

Dynamo turned and looked at the kid who was currently staring out the window with wide eyed excitement. He couldn't believe what he had heard, but he had a good idea about how to confirm it.

"Hey kid," He asked Rage, "Who are you and why are you hanging out with a bum like Shogun?"

"I'm Rage the Wrathful, I'm here to study under my Master."

"Study what?"

"How to slaughter humanity in the most efficient way possible while dominating their minds and souls." Dynamo blinked slightly at how bluntly and happily Rage had stated his goal. At first Dynamo assumed that Shogun had put him up to this, an innocent child could never have such dark goals. On the other hand Dynamo didn't think that people learned to lie till they were sixteen years old, instead of at sixteen months old like most parents will testify.

"Is he for real?" Was all that Dynamo could muster.

"That's all I can get out of him, and as near as I can figure he means it." Shogun responded.

"Huh, I wonder what the boss will say about him"

"I wonder what the boss will say about me." Shogun concluded.

Skip

"What have you got for me detective Kyou?"

"A lost patrol car in the single largest illegal hack shop in Tokyo, detective Morris."

"How did you find it?"

"We've had an informant on the lookout for this place for months. He got pretty deep into a grand theft auto ring and they led him to this place just when you car showed up. He radioed for us and off of that info we got a search warrant and busted the place about 15 minutes ago."

"And nothing was done to the squad car in that time?"

"Nothing Miss, they had two dozen other stolen vehicles to get through before they got to work on this one."

"Why's the license plate missing?"

"They said it was missing when they brought it in."

"Is that possible?"

"When you got this many cars to work on certain things have to be done first before the real work can be done, most of the cars here have already lost their plates, tags and other such identifiers."

"Two dozen cars you said? That's quite a bust detective."

"You have no idea. Forty four mechanics, twenty ground men stealing the cars for them, ledgers connecting them to fifty different car dealerships and fifteen suspected Yakuza lieutenants. This is the single largest bust of my career all the boys are proud to be part of it."

"Congratulations, but I am only here for one reason, who brought in the cop car?"

"The perpetrators are right over here ready to be grilled."

Kyou led Morris over to a private room where three teenaged boys were indeed waiting for interrogation. A police officer was already in there getting one of the boys to sign something.

"What's that officer doing?" Detective Morris asked,

"Getting their confessions, these boys are willing to cut a deal with us."

"They confessed to taking the car?"

"That and about half a dozen other acts of grand theft auto, plus to working on several stolen vehicles here at the shop and also to cheating on their last exams at school"

"That thorough huh? How many years are they getting off for that?"

"Actually they asked for a longer stint in the joint."

"Really, why?"

"They bring in a cop car and thirty minutes later the cops show up, I don't know what that looks like to you but to every other person in this room it looks like a sting. They want more time so that everyone else will get out and calm down and move on and not decide to visit them on their release date."

"Mind if I ask them a few questions?"

"Go ahead."

The boys were clearly agitated very worried about their immediate future when Detective Morris came in. The boys were of average height and lacked any truly noticeable features. The one in the middle had the look of a leader about him.

"Alright boys," Morris started, "I heard you three cut a deal with the good detective and are willing to cooperate, that right?" The boys nodded, "That's wise, its always wise to come clean when the cards are down. Now then that police care went missing six days ago on Monday and then it turns up here. Where was it during that time?"

One of the boys answered, "We found it four days ago in front of hotel Monterey Sanno watched it a whole day, no one used it, so we thought it had been abandoned, so in the night we picked it up and took it to my uncle's place. We waited to move it till tonight, no one came for it so we brought it here to be hacked up."

"Your uncle didn't notice the cop car in his garage?" Morris asked,

"My uncle's in jail, no one lives there, but he still owns the place."

"Why take the risk stealing the car?"

"Cops got the best gear out on the road, so getting one is a gold mine, plus it takes guts to nab one, you get some respect, ya know?"

"It makes you look real stupid when the cops show up though."

"You're telling me."

"Do you know how long the car had been at the hotel?"

"It showed up the morning we found, we spotted it about eight, didn't see who brought it in though."

"Did you have someone keep an eye on it? Make sure no one stole your prize?"

"Yeah I did," another boy said, "But no one ever came for it, even the Hotel owners ignored it completely."

"Did you tamper with the car in any way?"

"We didn't touch anything besides the steering wheel."

"Where's the license plate?"

"Didn't have one when we found it, that's why we thought it was abandoned."

"Well that's it, thank you boys for your time, good luck in the court."

"Thanks, were gonna need it."

Outside detective Morris made her way over to the car itself to talk to the investigation team which was led by Manami.

"What have you got for me?"

"Not much," Manami responded, "No prints but those of our young lads over there, radio has been broken, the registration is gone, and so is the GPS unit and the backup unit in the trunk, there are scratch marks around where the plate should be so I think who ever removed them used a knife instead of a screwdriver. Whoever did this knew what they needed to do but they certainly weren't an engineer of any kind."

"So an expert on the police but not on cars?"

"Looks like it."

"Kids said they found the car outside of the Monterey Sanno Hotel, that wouldn't happen to be a mob hotel would it?"

"Wouldn't surprise me, seems like the Yakuza have their hands in everything these days."

"Did the squad car camera catch anything?"

"See for yourself."

Manami flipped on a small monitor attached to the camera and it pulled up a scene outside of the brothel on Sunday night. Manami fast forwarded through much of the night till at last he came to a moment on Monday morning when a man approached the squad car and started talking to Jed Jones. They were too far away for the camera to pick up any sound. After speaking together for a few moments Jed escorted the mystery man into the brothel. Later Jed exited and they heard his conversation with his partner, followed by a crash from inside the building. Then the mystery man returned asked the cops if they wanted any coffee and then they left together. The camera never got a clear view of his face.

No sooner had the cops left then a faint scratching sound could be heard on the camera followed by the door opening and a person entering the car. The new person started the car and started to drive off. He came to nearby stop light and then the tape ended.

"The recording ends there, nothing conclusive," Manami explained.

"Not quite, we know that someone lured them away from the scene, possibly someone they trusted. We also know that, that person was the last one with access to the crime scene before the fire. I bet my life that he started that fire. I want that video analyzed see if you can get the sound of his voice cleared up or the image enhanced so we can see his face. I also want to know the last known location of everyone from that station house at this time."

"You think someone of the force did this?" Manami asked in disbelief

"No, but I want to be certain of that before I pursue then next most likely line of questioning."

"Which is?"

"He's part of the mob covering for his buddies."

Skip

Mr. Sanji lived on the top floor of an eight story office building located right on the docks. It stood like the keep of an old castle surrounded by walls of "abandoned" warehouse and hundreds of shipping containers. Of course Mr. Sanji didn't really live there, he had a boat house on the sea and half a dozen other hiding spots scattered about the city, but no one had ever really seen him leave the office building. This notion was reinforced by the fact that no matter what time of day you went to the office Mr. Sanji was there conducting business as usual.

The office was very standard and very typical. He had a secretary outside who kept a nine millimeter under her desk, a main office, and a large back room with a needlessly long table and sound proof walls. The building was divided into three parts, the ground floor was a fortress in everything but name, all the men supposedly working busily were actually just there to open up hell for anyone who entered the building without an appointment. The upper three floors was where the actual management of the organization happened and the middle floors were nothing but a front, small rooms towards the front of the building rented out to legal shipping companies who had no honest idea what was going on above or below them. They were there to hide the emergency stair case which ran down into the sewers which then connected to one of five different warehouses none of which appeared on any legal blueprint of the city. Shogun and Dynamo passed through each portion of the building like kings passing over their armies. They knew exactly what this building was because they had made it that way, they had hired all the men who worked there and handpicked the companies that unwittingly guarded the secret passages.

As they came to the top floor Shogun turned to Rage and said, "Listen I have some business to take care of with my boss, so you just wait outside in the lobby. Be quiet and patient and don't play with anyone you don't know."

"Yes Master." Rage happily chimed in response.

The receptionist didn't even look up as they entered, she only continued to type on her computer, and said, "The boss is expecting you and… Who's the kid?" She finished awkwardly as she saw Rage take a seat in the waiting area.

"Friend of my cousin," Shogun answered, an old well respect saying of Shogun's, which actually meant, 'ask again and I will do unpleasant things to you with a cheese knife and a rubber hammer.'

"O.K," the receptionist answered in a slow tone as if to say that the answer had not satisfied her but she was here when Shogun made good on that threat the last time and so she wasn't going to say anything.

"Good morning Shogun," Mr. Sanji said as they entered through the door. Shogun wasn't surprised that Mr. Sanji knew exactly who it was. He always knew who was coming into his office; Shogun had replaced the glass doors to his office with one way mirrors for that exact purpose.

"Good morning Mr. Sanji sir. Have you had a good day so far?"

"I have had a fine morning today Shogun, I also had a fine morning this past Wednesday but that good day ended at 3:45 in the afternoon. Do you know why my morning went so sour on Shogun?"

"I wouldn't know sir, I was in the shower at the time, and I don't know what you found out about at 3:45."

"Shogun, I am not in the mood for games, unless there was some other homicidal maniac gunning up police stating at 3:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday then you know exactly what ruined my day."

"Sir I have always maintained the right to act independently in how I spend my time sir, this incident is no different than that."

"You have always maintained the right to have a hobby, blowing up police stations is not a hobby. Collecting stamps, or pretty girls or even young boys is a hobby. Hell I didn't even have a problem with you tracking down street gangs and beating the hell out of them at random. But mass murder in broad day light is where I draw the line."

"I will remember that in the future sir."

"No you won't. You didn't remember it from the last time we had this conversation from when you gunned down the entire Zeta gang plus five civilians and six SAT team members who happened to be entering the building for a completely unrelated reason at that time."

"The Zeta gang had it coming sir."

"The Zeta gang called out an insult about my mother while I was meeting with one of the great families, they were trash that didn't even deserve to have a place at the morgue and you sent them to page one, God damn it Shogun how many times do I have to say it? You can beat up any punk that looks at you cross eyed, but you only kill in self defense or at my orders! Got it?"

"Yes sir."

"Good…. And fine work at the brothel as well, saved two men and scraped the evidence."

"Thank you sir."

"Should have stopped it there though."

"I will remember that sir. If I may ask sir, how's Viper and Leo?"

"Pulling through fine, your surgery saved their lives and Doctor Jackson put them back into working order."

"Good to know sir."

"Well then I suppose it's time to get down to business. Lee, Jet." Mr. Sanji said motioning to two large men standing in the back of the room looking menacing.

"Yes Sir?" They answered.

"Take Shogun into the conference room and remind him why he has to follow my orders. Nothing permanent but nothing that he will forget anytime soon either. Shogun ensure they do their job properly."

"And if he resists sir?" Jet asked.

"What do you mean 'if he resists'?"

"Well sir what if he tries to stop sir, can we go farther than roughing him up or do we bring him out to you?"

"Jet you are quite possibly the third dumbest man in my organization. Look at this man," Mr. Sanji said motioning to Shogun who stood a solid half foot taller than Jet and had an even 30 pounds on him. "If he resists then you are going to die, but he's not going to resist, because this is Shogun. If I told him to blow his brains out he would do it without hesitation. Now stop asking stupid questions and get to work already."

The three man departed into the back room and nothing more was heard from them. Nothing ever was. Mr. Sanji turned to Dynamo and continued to mutter to himself. "Honestly the incompetence of some people. How the hell does a man like that get into my organization?"

"I ask myself that question daily sir." Dynamo responded.

"Why? You were the one who hired Jet and set him to work here."

"Oh, you were talking about Jet, well sir you need some important looking muscle scattered around the building. Puts the newcomers in their place and keeps their eyes of the really dangerous men. I thought you were talking about Shogun. Seriously though why do you still employ that man?"

"You have to ask Dynamo? That man just killed fifty cops in under four minutes and they have no idea how he did it or how to find him. He's useful, utility covers a multitude of sins."

"The council would pay you his weight in gold if you killed him. Twice it if you turned him over to the cops."

"The down fall of this government is the idea that money is more important than loyalty. A hundred billion yen wouldn't cover the cost of losing a man of his capability and loyalty to me."

"But is he worth all these messes that he starts?"

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"What? Why not?"

"Last week I caught you smuggling thirty boys into the city destined for houses of poor repute. If that had gotten uncovered and traced to you it would cost me a fortune."

"So will this."

"But this isn't going to get traced back to me is it?"

"No sir. Shogun was quite systematic in his work. The only loose ends are the girls who were working that night and thanks to the ledgers he turned over I will have that taken care of in a few hours."

"The ledgers are that accurate about his employees?"

"Addresses, families even a bit of black mail on the older girls he wrote down everything."

"Excellent."

"Anything else boss? Or can I be on my way?"

"Just one thing. Dynamo you know that I know about your tastes in sexual partners and that I have been quite forgiving about them. But you do recall our agreement about their presence on my property?"

"That if you even see so much as a photograph of my boys on your property you will have Shogun and his friends turn my knees backwards?" Dynamo answered in the voice of a man bracing for impact.

"Exactly, so tell me, who the hell is that kid and what is he doing in my lobby?"

"Oh, he not mine boss."

"Do you have any idea how much that statement sounds like 'I was just holding it for a friend' coming from a crack addict?"

"No really boss Shogun says he found him in a van and took him in. I think he like Shogun's apprentice or something."

Mr. Sanji bit down on his lip as he pondered this statement. He had never known Shogun to show the least bit of compassion at all to anyone besides Mr. Sanji and people Mr. Sanji told Shogun to take care of. The idea that he could out of the goodness of his own heart take in a child was all but unthinkable. It's not like Shogun had a soft spot for orphans or anything, hell at Mr. Sanji's orders he had burned down an orphanage or two. Mr. Sanji was just puzzled enough about this that he decided to get some straight answers on the subject. So he turned around and opened up the doors to the conference room and heard:

"No, no, no; you've got to use the reactions of the victim to increase the damage. Watch me: left to the stomach and he doubles over, right upper cut to the jaw as he's coming down sends him up and back over then you knee the groin. Keep your fist flat it minimizes the visible bruising and don't be so quiet about this: insult me, humiliate me. Mental intimidation lasts longer then the bruises. Now try it again from the beginning."

"Shogun!" Mr. Sanji called out.

"Yes boss?" Shogun responded.

"Stop teaching those punks how to beat you up and get over here. I got a question for you."

Shogun left the conference room with no immediate signs of having been beaten up but he was slightly out of breath. He had an inquisitive look on his face as if this interruption to his punishment was unforeseen and unnatural.

"What is it boss?" he asked in genuine inquisitiveness.

"Who's the kid?" Mr. Sanji said bluntly.

"That's…" Shogun started and paused mid sentence as if he wasn't sure how to best continue. "My apprentice, Rage the Wrathful, found him in the back of my truck as I was unloading some unmentionables. Took me be completely by surprise and insists on calling me master and learning from me."

"You mean you actually took an apprentice. Shogun you won't even teach Leo how to shoot. The only reason why you were giving those punks some advice is because I told you to make sure they did their work properly. And this kid is your apprentice?"

"Well sir, the thing is I don't know how to get rid of him."

"Leaving him by the road side, putting up for adoption, shooting him, any of these crossed your mind yet?"

"Shooting him has."

"Really what stopped you?" Mr. Sanji asked sarcastically.

"Nothing, I shot him in the head, only made him cry."

For about thirty seconds there was dead silence, then Dynamo and Mr. Sanji started up and the same time. "You shot a child?" one cried, "And he's still alive?" the other asked.

Shogun ignored Dynamo and answered Mr. Sanji, "Yes he is, you have to see this for yourself." Shogun then opened up the door and said to Rage, "Come in here I want to play catch with you."

Rage bounded into the room like an excited ten year old. Smiling like an idiot he danced around Shogun begging to know what kind of game of catch they would play. Shogun pulled out his desert eagle and said, "Were going to play bullet catch." Rage shouted out for joy and rushed over to the door leading into the conference and bent over and started swaying side to side like a soccer goal tender. Shogun raised his gun and pointed it straight at Rage, Dynamo did a flying dive trying to stop him, but before he could tackle Shogun he had pulled the trigger.

BANG! Went the gun, followed by a clanging sound as Rages hand moved across his face faster than any eye or camera could possible capture. Sure enough with in an instant he was jumping up and down waving the fifty caliber bullet above his head in triumph. Mr. Sanji stared blankly at the boy.

Shogun shook Dynamo off and turned to Rage and said, "No hands this time."

"Kay Master," Rage responded.

Shogun shot again and this time Rage fell backwards with the bullet catching it in his skull. Mr. Sanji simply shook his head in disbelief. Dynamo all but fainted. Shogun simply stood still with a look of 'I told you so' written on his face. Rage was jumping up and down eagerly awaiting the next game of "catch."

"Good job Rage," Shogun said, "You win, for a prize you can stop hiding your arms I know how much concentration that takes."

Rage smiled and bowed and within an instant his hands changed. Abandoning the innocent their form, his short, slender, and almost girlish arms vanished and were replaced by the massive, jagged, crimson monstrosities that actually made up Rage's arms. The sight of them was almost more than Dynamo could stand to see. Mr. Sanji simply whistled in a mocking way as if saw more amazing things getting out of bed.

"Tell me boy, just who are?" He asked

"I am Rage the Wrathful, I am going to be a god of this world someday."

"Really, you're going to be God? That's quite a goal you've set for yourself. How do you plan on doing that?"

"Master is going to teach me, just like he taught me in the past. We almost won back then, God had to break time itself to stop us and he can't do that again without destroying the world, so this time we're bound to win."

"Shogun had taught you before? When did he do that?"

"In the twelfth century. Back then he worked for Emperor K as a Kensai but nothing's really changed since then, he can still teach me a lot."

At that point Mr. Sanji broke out laughing. He all but fell on the floor he was laughing so hard. Not at Rage, but at Shogun, he couldn't believe that Shogun had honestly found a kid like this. Not just a kid who could catch bullets but a kid with delusions of godhood and grandeur. He just couldn't take it. Neither could Rage, he thought that Mr. Sanji was laughing at him belittling and underestimating him. Anger started well up in side of him and it broke after Mr. Sanji's next comment.

Rising up out of his laughing stupor he turned to Shogun and said, "God, Shogun, I am going to kill you one of these days if you keep causing problems for me like this. You've got the police breathing down my neck, you've convinced the council that it's the end of the world and were all going to die, and now you come back to me and present me with some four foot tall super six year old with delusions of godhood. Honestly one of these days….

Mr. Sanji never finished his sentence as Rage lost all control and flew at him screaming at the top of his lungs, his right arm had already formed into a long sword. There was murder in his eyes, but Shogun had read him like a book. He got in front of the furious ball of blades and pushed the blade down into his own gut. Rage slammed on his breaks but it was much too late. His arm was seven inches inside of Shogun, he pulled out immediately. His anger was all but forgotten as he watched his master's shirt gradually turn red.

Shogun grabbed a hold of Rage and picked him up off the ground and brought him up to his eyes and said, "If you ever so much as look at my boss with murder in your eyes again, I swear to the gods of heaven and hell that I will never cease to hunt you. I will never cease to seek your life till I break your soul itself. Understand? GOOD!" He dropped Rage but hit the ground before Rage's feet did.

Rage looked over the fallen body of his master. His passion had completely turned to fear for Shoguns life. Behind Shogun Mr. Sanji walked over the body as if it was part of the rug. He brushed off a bit of dust from his coat and took a seat behind his desk. He stared at Rage for a moment or two studying him as Shogun bled out over the carpet. Eventually Rage looked up.

"You're in charge right?" Rage asked his voice quivering with fear, "You have to save him."

"Why?" Mr. Sanji asked in casual way. Rage's fear turned into anger as he flew across the desk and grabbed Mr. Sanji by the throat.

"Because I'll kill you if you don't!" Rage screamed. The guards behind him drew their guns and fired several rounds at the boy holding their boss three feet off the ground. The bullets dropped to the ground utterly useless. Dynamo was still shaken by what was happening but for now he just lit up a cigarette and watched his boss maneuver.

"Kill me and Shogun will die where he lies." Mr. Sanji managed to squeeze out his choking throat.

"You would abandon your own man just like this?" Rage asked as he relaxed his grip just enough that Mr. Sanji could speak.

"Shogun was useful to me but expendable. In this situation however, I am necessary to his life. If you want him to live you had best give me some reason to save him."

"I told you if he dies so will you."

"My life has always been my own; you cannot use it to barter. I own Shogun body and soul if he lives or dies is my call, not just now but at anytime at any point in his life, if I so much as snap my fingers he dies. Now what can you offer to buy this life from me?" Rage's grasp started to relax a bit more as he saw the futility of threatening a man like this. He started looking for a way to bribe him.

"I'll kill for you if you save him."

"Assassins are cheap; a few dozen wouldn't be worth Shogun's life."

"I'll conquer heaven for you." Rage said getting desperate as the blood stains on the carpet steadily widened.

"I have no interest in heaven and I already own hell."

"Please," Raged begged tears welling up in his eyes as his passion died and concern for his master started to overwhelm him. "I'll do anything." He finished as he dropped Mr. Sanji to the ground.

"Correction," Mr. Sanji responded as he brushed some dust as his suit and started to walk towards the conference room. "You will do everything. Anything I tell you to, anytime I tell you to, and only what I tell you to. Shogun may be your master, but as of now I am your owner, the master of your master. Dynamo, take Shogun down to the surgeon on the fifth floor, and get this carpet replaced in time for my 4:00 appointment."

"Yes sir." Dynamo answered as he carefully picked Shogun up and made his way to the elevator. Rage slowly followed behind him like a whipped dog. As soon as the one way doors closed Mr. Sanji fell to the ground and broke out in a cold sweat. That was the fourth time in his life he had ever stared death in the eye and it was the last encounter he wanted to have with someone like Rage.

Skip

"What do you have for me Kouta?" Detective Morris asked her escort.

"Much more then I would have thought at first. After playing around with the sound, I successfully isolated part of a conversation between Jed Jones and our mystery man. It isn't much but I picked up the words 'Crime Scene Photographer' and the name 'Takehiko.' I ran the name through crime scene's personal files, and the only Takehiko who works for them is stationed on Okinawa and has a rock solid alibi of being in surgery at the time on the tapes."

"Do you think that someone impersonated crime scene to gain access to the brothel?"

"At this point that's your most likely answer; I also found something much more interesting. That loud crash you heard that happened just before they left for coffee? It was masking another sound. There was a gun shot, partially silenced but still detectable on the tapes. I sent some guys over to the scene and after painstaking searches they found a bullet lodged in the fuse box."

"Did that start the fire?"

"Fire marshal still blames the fire on an improperly stored gasoline can but the open sparks created by the damaged fuse box certainly helped."

"What kind of bullet did they find?"

"Fifty caliber round but it had a very low grain count, possibly from a pistol like a desert eagle or a magnum revolver. The markings on the bullet connected to a Desert Eagle sold to an individual who calls himself the Dragon. Couldn't find anything else on him, could be our guy."

"I doubt it; arms dealers rarely get down to the business of killing themselves. Dragon is the Chinese equivalent of a made man. His father got into the business of smuggling arms back during Nam. The Chinese government will defend him to the last."

"Why?"

"Industrial sabotage basically, a high crime rate means low productivity for a nation and the greatest boost to crime is the availability of weapons. Especially in nations like Japan where the civilian populace is totally unarmed. Protect your smugglers and they will raise hell in potentials rivals like here in Japan."

"Any way that Dragon could be persuaded to help us out?"

"Not unless he gets in serious trouble with his government or happens to want something that only we have. Even then I doubt he could do us any real good. Even with the protection of the government, arm dealers who keep paper trails are not long for this world."

"So what now?"

"Get a vocal profile put together on our mystery man and start looking for the girls who worked the brothel that night."

"Why? What can a bunch of hookers tell us?"

"They can give us descriptions of the last group of man to enter the brothel."

"What conceivable good would that do? What the hell does this failed brothel bust have to do with the station bombing?"

"What you mean you don't see it? This is classic Man in the White Hat syndrome."

"Man in the what hat?"

"The Man in the White Hat. In any old picture of Al Capone there's a man standing in the background wearing a white suit and hat. Witnesses connected him to dozens of crimes in the city but there was nothing substantial against him. Cops didn't even know his name, but they do know what he did. He made problems go away. He was a professional killer, a calm clear mind with a quick hand for a gun and a deep love for explosives. He made his boss's problems simply vanish."

"What does he have to do with our mystery man?"

"He is the mystery man. Here's what I think happened. Local Mafia boss sends some boys down to a brothel to conduct some business, probably violent business too. While they are there cops show up on a raid. The Mafia panic and shoot back. A few moments later there's fourteen dead cops and injured Mafioso so the boss contacts his Man in the White Hat he comes down ices Jed and Yuzuke and burns the place to the ground. Of course that's going to attract unwanted attention, and the mafia can't keep all the hookers quiet, so White Hat decides to put out this fire by setting a large explosion nearby. So he and few boys hit a police station with a few cheap tools a few explosives and a quick escape route. Now everyone is all up in arms about the bombing that can't be solved and no one is thinking about the brothel which can't be covered up. The hookers can give us the men who came in a shot it out with the cops and they will lead us to the White Hat and he will lead us to his boss."

Kouta looked at detective Morris like she had been talking about the latest grassy knoll theory. He then said, "You're supposed to be investigating possibility that terrorists are responsible for this and now you're saying that the Yakuza did this. Are you crazy?"

"Come on Kouta, the possibility that terrorists were behind this expired yesterday. If they had blown up this police station you can bet your sweet ass that they would have claimed so by now. No this is domestic and it's a cover up. The only real crime that the Yakuza are worried about is our little failed brothel bust. Find those Hookers and we will have the names of the perpetrators within a week."

Skip

The Nurse nearly died when Shogun woke up. When she closed the door and came over to him he jumped out his bed and grabbed her by the neck and threw he down on the floor and got on top of her. He covered her mount and brought his head very close to hers and looked her dead in the eye.

"Now listen to me if you scream you will die here. Where am I? What day is it and how did I get here?"

The nurse was panicking but she had worked here a while so she took a moment to calm down and then answered: "Shogun your still in the office, you were brought here four days ago by Dynamo the boy who came with is waiting outside."

"What boy?" Shogun said still in survivor mode.

"I believe he calls himself Rage."

All the events of the last day came rushing back to Shogun. Realizing what had happened he got up off the girl and walked to the door. He opened it slowly so in order to peak around the corner. Rage spotted him immediately.

"Master!" Rage cried as he leapt towards Shogun who had the presence of mind to open the door so that Rage wouldn't break it down. "I was so worried about you Master that's the last time I will ever hurt you. I am so sorry for stabbing you or trying to hurt your boss. I will never ever ever ever do it again. Believe me master just don't ever scare me like that again…."

Rage tried to continue but he was interrupted when the nurse pulled him off of Shogun as she yelled at him, "If you want to protect him then you can start by getting off of him and not breaking his stitches open. And as for you Mr. Greet the Morning with a Knee to the Groin you are going to get back in bed before I call Doctor Jackson in here."

Rage looked down at the ground and quietly said "Sorry" to the nurse. Shogun returned to his bed lest he awaken the wrath of Doctor Jackson once again. The nurse double checked Shogun's stitches to make sure he wasn't bleeding and then left them alone in the room.

Ten minutes passed by in awkward silence till Rage finally asked, "Master, why did you risk your life for the man who was insulting you like that?"

"Why did you want to kill him?"

"He was insulting you master."

"You would kill a man over a few insults?"

"But master isn't incompetent he's the greatest warrior I've ever known. Vice was jealous of you and even Ultimo feared you. That stupid man was acting like you were useless to him."

"You didn't answer my question Rage, would you kill a man over a few insults?"

"Wouldn't you master?"

"Answer my question Rage."

"Master I am anger, I would kill for just about any reason, it's part of my soul."

"It shouldn't be though."

"Why not master? Isn't that what true anger is? Hating the world and wanting to destroy it?"

"Anger is the desire to destroy, but what's important about anger isn't the target but the motivation for it."

"What do you mean Master?"

"ahh…" Shogun sighed as he thought about how to do this. While he paused the thought cropped up in his mind: _Why are you doing this? You swore never to spread your anger like this, besides he attacked Mr. Sanji you should be figuring out how to kill him not teaching him how to be stronger._ But then another thought arose: _But you saw what he did, you know what he is capable of, what you could do with him for Mr. Sanji and you're going to pass up this opportunity because of a little fear about what might do? When has that ever stopped you before?_ And finally a third thought came out of almost nowhere to say: _Besides you know how this turns out, what he can be, what he was. You tamed him before you can do it again. _

"Well you see Rage, there are five different kinds of anger each one had a different level of strength to it. Right now since you have no real motivation to your anger you're experiencing what could be called "baseless" anger. Anger that he no real reason for its existence, you're simply unhappy with the way that the universe is going right now so you want to damage and change it. You've stubbed your toe, or you've been insulted, something happened that you don't think should have happened and your angry about. It's the most common and the weakest form of anger. Your also experiencing what could be called "basic" anger mainly anger that is summoned towards something else as a formality. There is something, in this case its people who threaten me, out in the world that you've been taught to hate and when you see it you hate without thinking about why you hate it. Since neither of these kinds of anger have any real meaning to them they dissipate easily. If challenged they will fail and if questioned they fade. If you rely of them you will be weak."

"So how do I become stronger master?"

"You need a stronger kind of anger to use. The other three kinds of anger are all manifestations of the one root: "Foundational" or "Fearful" anger. This is anger born from fear of losing something that is vital to you. Someone or something that you truly love with all your heart and soul, and when its threatened you can summon up a powerful anger to defend it. Remember this; the truest and strongest anger is created by love for something or someone. Off of this "foundational" anger there are three special kinds of anger that you summon. "Defensive" anger, which is anger that is used to protect what you love. "Berserk" or "battlefield" anger which is used to defend yourself against attackers so that you can enjoy what you love. But the greatest and most destructive is "Cold" anger which is the desire to avenge what you love when it has been lost. The power of Cold anger is that it doesn't have to be acted on now; it can be put down and suppressed until the right time to do the maximum damage possible. The key to gaining them is too truly love something which will be constantly threatened and possibly lost."

After a long silence Rage spoke again, "Master you didn't answer my question, why did you protect that man from me?"

"Because Rage, I was angry. I was angry because you threatened the man who saved my life from despair and death on the streets and I will not let anyone harm him. So when you tried to kill him I did whatever it took to stop you, even if that meant losing my own life."

"So you summoned defensive anger to stop me?"

"Yes I did."

After another long silence Rage asked one last thing of Shogun, "Master, could you be the thing that I want to protect so that my anger can grow?"

"I don't know Rage; can I be that thing for you? If I can and if I do you won't be able to ever separate yourself from me, or refuse to do what I ask."

"I think that you could be that thing for me if you took the oath with me."

"What's the oath?"

"The oath of love. It's the action which connects us a master and page. It will allow me to make you stronger and use your strength to cover my weakness. It will connect you and me in body and soul for all eternity."

"How does it work?"

"All you have to do is touch my soul." Rage said as his chest itself split apart and opened up. Inside Shogun could see a white ball with Rage's name written on it surrounded by clockwork and electrical equipment. Shogun stared at it for a few moments fascinated by it and all of the machinery around. For a moment he looked up at Rage and saw that the boy was blushing with embarrassment. _Amazing_ Shogun thought to himself, _He is a machine, he really is a living doll. But his is filled with emotions, he can even be embarrassed. He is amazing._

"Rage," Shogun said after a while, "I believe that I would be honored to be the thing that you will protect above all others and take the oath with you."

Rage's eyes flared up in excitement as his embarrassment died; pure joy filled his face and a large smile blitzed its way across his lips. His soul all but leapt out of his chest along with dozens of long optical cables and other masses of mechanical arms and tentacles. For a moment Shogun panicked at the sight of the machinery rushing towards him. Shogun thought, _there is no way all that metal was in side of that boy. This is nuts, what have I gotten myself into?_ But at the same time an odd sense of familiarity and calmness washed over Shogun almost as if his body had been expecting this all of his life. He reached out into the mass of flailing machinery rushing towards him, trying to grasp Rage's soul.

The tentacles and cables swarmed around his arms and all around his body injecting smaller cables into his body which wrapped around all of his nerves. It felt like he was being ripped apart, and it hurt like hell. Yet Shogun relaxed. More than relaxed he never tensed up as if he expected this to happen and as if his body welcomed it. His arm continued to move forwards like it had a mind of its own or as if it was being called to Rage, drawn in by a greater power. When Shogun's first finger touched it, the pain stopped; power so great that he could feel it poured over every fiber of his being. His nerves fired at random, but with greater precision and speed then every before. Everything he felt became clearer, his hearing more precise, his vision was clearer he could pick up the smell and taste of the ants crawling in the walls. In an instant he knew where everything was in the room and in the next room over and in the hall outside and in the room above them. He couldn't see it he could feel it. It was intoxicating.

Shogun lashed out with his arm and brought the rest of his had around Rage's soul and squeezed it like it a life preserver thrown to a drowning man. As he did, sensations poured into to his mind. Not of his present experiences but of times long past, times which were soon to come and even of the distant future. Faces and sights, pains and pleasures, triumphs and failures were laid before him. It was as if all of Rages life, past present and future was being downloaded into Shogun's mind and it was overwhelming. He reached out in the midst of the chaos for something solid, something he could focus on and cling to. What he found was a memory, a memory of himself, a memory that was also his own and seemed to jump between his own eyes' and Rage's. To hold on to himself, Shogun threw himself into that memory of the past and lived it out, while pushing everything else down into the deepest pits of his soul.

End of Chapter 3

End of Part 1


	5. prologue part 2

Prologue Part 2

Momentum is one of the most important things one can ever have on the battlefield. The enemy does not surrender at the sight of his opponent's awesome armor and honorable attitude. He surrenders when all hope is lost and the threat of death far outweighs the scorn he will suffer from being branded as a coward by his friends. The easiest way to do this is not to increase the danger he is in, but to get all of his buddies to rout first. People who also ran away can't mock others who only followed their example. Consequentially, it can be said that routing 3/10ths of the enemy army is nothing to celebrate, but routing 3/10ths of the enemy army at the same time will persuade the other 7/10ths that routing would be a wise and somewhat noble thing to do.

Kensai thrived on momentum. It was truth be told damn near impossible to kill three hundred men, one at a time by themselves. They would simply get exhausted, and the enemy would overwhelm them. Kensai could kill a hundred and twenty men though without much difficulty and the sight of two guys killing sixty men apiece creates the momentum needed to convince the other hundred and eighty men that leaving would be wise. It was said that Oda Nobuhide and Daisuke Osamu left no survivors but this was not true, no one who fought them survived anyone smart enough to avoid fighting them lived.

Up till now, the fact that many people survived the battle only served to enhance their reputations as vicious man slayers who could not be harmed on the battlefield. This time, however, one survivor had proven far more useful than that, and all it took was a little momentum. All they had to do was convince one bandit that they might actually be able to take on the whole Bandit King's army and since that man was truly loyal to the Bandit King he went running back to him in order to warn him of the coming storm. Thus Oda Nubuhide and Daisuke Osamu had successfully convinced a poor confused bandit to lead them to their target. Of course the poor old man had not actually warned Bandit King Yamato of the imminent danger to his life, but he didn't actually think he would get back to the camp alive, did he?

Truly the Kensai were masters of momentum, but no amount of momentum or skill was going to help them get through their next challenge. Somehow, someway, two men now had force their way through an army of over 3000 men to get at one little Bandit King who may or may not be an immortal protected by the gods. Needless to say, Nobuhide and Osamu were quite perplexed about how to do this.

"Well I for one am quite disappointed at all of this, the Bandit King's reputation has obviously been blown out of proportion." Said Osamu

"Were looking off of the same mountain top right? He's got well over three thousand men down there ready to do his bidding. How has this army been exaggerated?"

"I was promised that Yamato had more men at his command then the gods could number and even I can count those men down there."

"That's cause he doesn't keep all of his men here, they're scattered about land raiding villages and raping women and all that good stuff. It doesn't change the fact that we will never get through that army."

"Never say never my friend. We just need to think of a good plan and we will be through there in no time. Any suggestions?"

"Night raid might work. Ambush the outer sentries get the masses to start shouting and fighting and they might just do most of the work for us." Nobuhide suggested,

"What's to keep us from killing each other then? And besides, as soon as a real leader gets to the front they will be rallied against us." Osamu rejected,

"We could sneak in, kill the sentries with that bow of yours and then quietly creep through the enemy army to kill Yamato. Cut of the head of the serpent and the body dies." Nobuhide said in a matter of fact way.

"Not before it lashes about for a few moment spitting blood and poison everywhere, I don't want to be anywhere near that camp when they find his body. And if we get caught there is no sneaking out." Osamu denied in the voice of a man speaking from experience.

"We could pull the old one, two, three, South Kyoto maneuver on them." Nobuhide said getting desperate,

"Oh god no, the last time we did that I couldn't get the smell of rotting fish out of my hair for months. Besides where are we going to find a blind homicidal horse salesmen out in the middle of a forest?" Said Osamu who was not that desperate,

"Well if you're so smart why don't you make up a plan?" Said an increasingly irritated Nobuhide,

"Is it not written that you should hit a defensive enemy while he on the move and in unfavorable terrain?" Said an increasingly pleased Osamu

"Yeah it's written, by some eastern barbarian." Nobuhide said with no small amount of disgust.

"Hey that eastern barbarian can fight, have you heard what he did to the armies of the northern alliance?" Said Osamu who firmly believed that competence trumped race.

"He got lucky."

"One does not get lucky while fighting a hundred thousand enemy troops, besides what's wrong with my plan? We wait for Yamato to start moving then we pick off his outer patrols till we've killed enough to have at the main group."

"The fact that he can replace any losses with one letter and a few days and it will take forever to whittle away 2700 men I would like to have the Bandit King's head before I turn fifty."

For a few moments there was silence and the two continued to stare down at the enemy army that filled the valley. If they had a few more men with them they would attack without hesitation but it was only two men against thousands. The thought of leaving to gather an army never crossed their minds, they had come this far to kill themselves a bandit and they were not going to leave till they had done just that. After a few moments, Oda Nobuhide noticed a small group of men coming out a field walking towards the camp, carrying what looked like baskets full of flowers and being led by what looked like a small girl dressed in all white.

"Who's that?" Nobuhide asked pointing down to the small group walking through the valley beneath them.

"It must be the Moon Princess. She was betrothed to the emperor but Yamato took her hostage. She's an incredible flower arranger; they must be using her to decorate the camp." Osamu explained

Nobuhide looked at his friend with a look which somehow perfectly said, 'its very difficult to believe that bandits would want to decorate their camp.'

"Well maybe she's simply taking some initiative and decorating the camp on her own?" Osamu said responding to the unsaid statement.

"That's an awful lot of freedom to give to a hostage."

"What are you implying?"

"Does the burn and rob em Bandit King who's battle cry is, and I quote 'SCREW THE NOBLES' sound like the kind of a man who takes hostages?"

"No not really, what are you getting at?"

"Look we all know that the emperor is not the most popular man at the courts. So maybe she volunteered to be a hostage so save the emperor's life."

"I fail to see what this scandalous accusation has to do with little Lune and our present predicament."

"Did you happen to know her back in the courts?"

"Yes," responded Osamu in an increasingly worried voice.

"And on the way here you said that you spotted some bitter roots right? The kind which can paralyze a grown man with stomach pain?"

"Yes?" Said Osamu in a worried and confused voice.

"Then my friend we have a way into the camp. Here's what we do…." And Nobuhide told Osamu his plan and the demon deep within Osamu smiled with wicked anticipation and then they set off to set it in motion.

Skip

Several days earlier in the grand old city of Kyoto a storm of great furry descended on the city in all of its terrible wrath. In the city one tower alone took the full force of the storm. Pounded by endless bolts of lightning and battered by the driving winds; any newcomer to the city would have sworn that the great tower was doomed. Yet the tower neither shuddered nor swayed in the storm but stood still taking on the storm in obstinate defiance. It welcomed the lightning bolts which struck the side of the tower often enough to make it glow in the constant flashes and such that the claps of thunder formed into a musical rhythm like some great score of drums. The tower laughed in the face of wind, didn't it know? This was the hundred story pagoda of insane Professor Dunstan only God himself could shake its foundation.

Inside the tower illuminated by the constant flashes of lightning, insane Professor Dunstan and his lone assistant, Muziki worked feverishly to complete their work before the storm tired of its futility. Around the room near the top of the tower they ran back and forth, pulling leavers and turning great wheels, winding up the huge springs in the ceiling and carefully manipulating the counter balancing chains. All the while the lighting leapt about the rooms across the carefully constructed copper tubes and long wires which then wrapped around the long silver poles that connected to the clock work mechanism in the ceiling and floor.

The silver poles then danced around the object of the grand experiment that Dunstan worked to complete. A small black ball held in the hands of a statue of a small boy. The silver poles glided across its surface allowing the thunder to leap on to the ball. They sparked and jumped and dived and forced their way through the ball and down the statue, like so many white dragons fighting for dominance over the storm. Every now and then a small piece of strangely colored glass passed between the silver rods and the black ball causing the white lightning to change color, but not to the color of the glass instead they became some other color chosen at random. Their color was the only random thing in the room, the machine in the ceiling had been carefully built it would not fail to complete its purpose.

Gradually that purpose became clearer. The lightning changed, it no longer leapt about the black sphere but instead it passed through it. As it leapt through the sphere the sphere itself began to change, little bits of white and light formed around the lightning but they were quickly swallowed up by the darkness. Dunstan pulled down a huge lever and Muziki released one of the largest springs in the building so that it could spin freely. Seven more silver poles fell down from the ceiling lightning jumping off of them at random, and they began to follow their paths around the sphere focusing their power on it. The lightning gave the light a chance, the little flashes of light from inside the sphere soon became patches of light, which soon united so that half of the sphere was white. The blackness did not take kindly to this.

The darkness had at the light with a vengeance, surging and ramming deep into the light it tried to connect to the lightning and draw power from it. Together they swirled and danced around each other, the light and the darkness trying to follow the paths of the lighting and catch of its blasts. Outside of the sphere the light and shadows shot out from the sphere, the flashes of lightning forgotten, beaten down by the light and swallowed up by the shadow. After a few moments they could be seen.

Two great monster, many armed demons could be clearly seen wrapped about each other. One was absolutely dark sucking up all light into itself with two great eyes made of pure light shining out hovering about the sphere trying to pull it into its maul. The other was white and shown brilliantly in the night; it had two great eyes of darkness in its center which stood like a black holes in the midst of a super nova sucking all light into them so that it almost looked like the light was pouring out of them. It to tried to pull the sphere into its very being, out of the mouth of the darkness.

The two wrestled in the room with a deep and burning hatred for each tearing away at the silver rods and devouring the lightning. Dunstan smiled at the sight of them and then looked past them, at the sphere. There and only there could it be seen that the light was winning. It had covered over half of the sphere and was now forcing the darkness inward towards the center trying to bottle it up and lock it away. After being satisfied that the light had consumed almost all of the sphere and that the darkness was all but dead, he flipped one last leaver up and opened up a window.

The moment the window opened up a rocket of some kind fired into the sky and cut a hole through the storm all the way up to where the full moon stood in all of her glory. Her light poured down through the whole like the rocket had cut through some damn and a reservoir of moon light was now flooding the world beneath it. The light came straight through to Dunstan's window which was covered with a strange piece of glass. The glass had been very carefully colored but that color was beyond human perception, no matter how one stared at it their eyes could not make up their mind what that color was. So it seemed to constantly shift in color like a prism, yet it was not a rainbow that poured through the window, rather it was like a rainbow where the exposure had been wrong and all the colors were reversed. The room filled with shadows and grays and shades of light that were never meant for mortal eyes. The negative rainbow rushed over the sphere and the light monster that had all but consumed it; and the creature uttered a terrible cry.

Its cry shook the tower and caused every house in Kyoto to shake beneath its furry. All the people in the city who tried to protect themselves from the storm's furry shuddered in their sleep as the cry awoke their deepest and darkest nightmares. Those who weren't asleep nearly jumped out their skins and swore that then end of all things had come at last. Inside of the tower Dunstan smiled to himself as the light died and the sphere changed forever. After a carefully measured thirty seconds he closed the window and lit a torch.

The mechanism was ruined, ripped apart by the fury of the fighting monsters, silver rods and copper wires littered the ground alongside massive iron clogs wheels that had been pulled out of the ceiling. Muziki had fainted, but was now recovering quickly as usual; a shadow covered her face like a bruise from where the darkness had struck her. As Dunstan approached the sphere the flame of his torch seemed to be drawn in towards it and the sphere began to glow.

It was not white, it was not black, it looked silverfish, with gray clouds swirling around it. It looked like someone had shrunken a cloud that was about to become a storm and sealed it within a glass bowl. There was power in that sphere, power strong enough that Dunstan felt it, riding into the darkest corners of his minds like it was reaching out for some human emotion to consume. It felt repulsive and yet he could not take his eyes off of it. He had to have it, but every fiber of his being told him that this was a bad idea. It was sinful. '_Full of Sin' what an excellent description for it _Dunstan thought to himself but he did not know what sin he had made this time.

As Dunstan observed the sphere in quiet contemplation a sound rang out in the room which disturbed him from his musings. It was applause, but not thunderous applause, or even excited applause it was slow and deliberate as if the clapper wanted him to know that while his feet was impressive the clapper had seen more amazing things getting out of bed. It was one of the first recorded instances of a 'slow clap' and it was as annoying then as it is now.

The clapper was a short man dressed in an extremely expensive kimono with pictures of skeletons on it. He looked like has was the son of a farm girl who, being alone young and ignorant, had decided to experiment with her body by shoving a rat up her vagina. Yet this man was not the son of a farm girl who, being alone young and ignorant, had decided to experiment with her body by shoving a rat up her vagina; he was the son of a noble woman and the former emperor, which of course made him the current emperor. Not that anyone could have guessed this by tracking his daily itinerary for this emperor acted like an employed man. The empire might have been better off if he was an employed man but he wasn't, he was emperor and as such he was the one who had paid for all the expensive equipment that had just been destroyed in the experiment.

"What's the matter, Emperor? You seem to disapprove of my latest experiment."

"Ah, Dunstan, Professor Dunstan I should say, you know that I have always backed you in the creation of all of these unusual works of yours, but typically you make them in pairs, and I only see one doll in the back there. What is the meaning of this?"

"It means that we are making progress dear Emperor, even with Ultimo and Vice all I could do was take a human soul and divide it in two, one side good the other evil, but with this work, I have made the first pure single soul. Rather than splitting this soul in two I have purified it, destroying all the good in it, and reducing it to pure evil."

"Then this creation of yours is stronger than any of the others?"

"I have told you before Emperor, Ultimo and Vice are my greatest creation nothing I make will ever be that strong, but this one, this one is second only to them, and with the right master he might even rival their strength."

"Hmmmm, but its only one though, which means I can only sell one to the nobles." The Emperor said to himself, ignoring the fact that Dunstan could hear him. "Dunstan I want you to know that while I support this experiment of yours I don't want you to repeat it, from now on you should always make at least two Doji with every experiment."

For a moment Dunstan was furious that someone would have the nerve to demand that he worked in such and such a way, but he needed the support of the emperor to continue his experiments so he swallowed his pride and said, "Yes emperor I will be certain to only make two Doji with each experiment from now on."

The Emperor smiled to himself and slowly left the room and began the long climb down the tower. As he left Dunstan smiled at his latest creation and reached into the statue's chest. He pulled out several long wires with spikes on them and began to plug them into the sphere at various different, carefully chosen points. He spoke to the statue as he worked.

"I apologize for this, I really do. Sometime aspects of the narrative must be sacrificed so that the story can be written. I am sorry that I can't give you a true rival to triumph over but somehow I sense you won't hate me for this. But I warn you, God is a dangerous enemy, on your own strength there is no victory against such a rival. You will need to find one hell of a master. Someone with greater anger then even I can imagine, and strength enough to hold his own against God himself. I doubt such a man exists, he would practically be a Doji himself; but if you found him it will be the beginning of the end, the coming of the Funeral of a Hundred Machines, the end of the world as we know it."

As the wires entered the sphere, light seemed to run up them and the paper skin of the doll began to soften till it was almost real skin. Finally when the last of the wires entered the sphere, Dunstan wrapped the boy's hands around the sphere and used them push it back into his chest. He then picked the doll up and set him down in a box and he sealed the box shut.

"If you sleep for six days you will have life all your own. Take it and find a master who can shake the Heavens with you and rival even the strength of God himself."

Skip

Lune was in love. No that didn't quite cover it. She was smitten, she heard the pitter patter of little feet, she had been smoked. She was full of Cupids arrows and loving it. Flipping head over heels for her man was the least of her acrobatic achievements. She was, honest to goodness, Twitter-Painted; and is a dark and terrible thing when can honestly say that a young girl is Twitter-Painted for some young man. It can only get worse if the guy didn't seem to love her back.

Lune was therefore in no small bit of trouble, she was utterly smitten by the Bandit King and he didn't seem to love her back. She had no idea why either. She knew why she loved him that was obvious he had saved her after all from that despicable emperor. Any girl would be totally devoted to the knight in shining armor who saved her from that monster. And it wasn't like she was unhappy there either. She had been treated very well by Yamato and the other bandits, they respected her, helped her, gave her a tremendous amount of freedom for a hostage, and afforded her the greatest conveniences that life in the field and on the run could afford. But he didn't love her back and that confused Lune.

She had never given Yamato any reason to dislike her. She had been obedient and helpful from the moment that they met onward. She helped around the camp all the time; she decorated it with the best flowers that she could find. She couldn't fight but she could work a little medical magic, and in a pinch she could whip up one mean stew. Everyone in the camp liked her, and if the number of "secret" love notes she was getting were any indication then she was attractive enough to catch his eye. Yet he all but totally ignored her and even when he was forced to recognize her it was never with anything more than casual conversation and short interactions. Personally Lune blamed that person for the failure of her love life.

Yes that person, he was most definitely responsible for her short comings. He had opposed her presence here from day one. He had questioned her, wrongfully accused her, had other members of the camp stalk her and he made up such awful lies about her. He was prejudice against her that was the problem; he honestly believed that just because she was a noble that she was evil. This was serious problem though; of all the people to take a disliking to her it had to be him. It had to be the one man who never left Yamato side, who had been with him for three years, three years! The one man who Yamato allowed to ride his horse in front him. The one he slept with at night, the one who defended him in battle and slaughtered his enemies for him. The single most influential, powerful, useful and personal individual in the whole camp was Lune's rival in love. And to make matters worse, he was…. He was…. He was drop dead gorgeous damn it.

He was a pedophile's dream, the sort of boy who could make the world's greatest Casanova's question their sexuality. His red hair shown like so many flames dancing around his very person, his eyes were a deep as ocean and twice as calm. His face was soft enough to calm down a berserker. His limbs were strong but also slender and elegant, grace and power personified and concentrated. His figure was impossibly thin and yet still boasted a commanding presence that could not be ignored, and his skin was so fair that it glowed in the moonlight, or above the snow. Lune may have been twitter painted with Yamato but even that man's beauty could tempt her to unfaithfulness.

"Well hello there Lune, fancy meeting you out here in the middle of a bandit infested forest." Lune froze as she heard that voice, yanked out of her pleasant daydreams by a sound that even made the scream in her throat die a slow and terrible death. She turned about quickly hoping to see one of her guards nearby who could protect her from that voice. There were none, and the only thing behind her was the owner of the voice. Daisuke Osamu, the demon of the capital city. Even the most brutal and heartless soldiers that Lune had ever met gave that man a wide birth and he was here talking to her. She could make no response to him.

"You have no idea how long we've spent tracking you down." Osamu continued ignoring her silence, "It's amazing that so many bandits could be so ignorant of the master's most important hostage."

Nothing about had changed since they had last met, all those years ago when he had come to inform her of the Emperor's will for her future. Talking to him was like trying to have a conversation with a Boa Constrictor that had curled around her chest. No matter what she did it felt like his eyes were tasting her, sizing her up for his sword arm.

"But you no longer have to fear for we have come to rescue you." Lune felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach, "Oh yes, the Emperor has spared no expense in finding you he was very specific about our orders, 'Find my fiancé' he said, 'Find her and bring her back so we can wed under the next full moon.' Which happens to just coincide with our arrival back to Kyoto. Isn't that great Lune you get to leave that nasty bandit who kidnapped you and return to the arms of your sweet awaiting emper…."

"NO!" Lune shouted, unable to either contain herself or realize what she was doing. _Did I really just said 'no' to the single most dangerous person in the capital?_ She thought to herself. "No! I will never go back! I hate the emperor! He is a stuck up jerk who is ruining the world! I am in love with Yamato and I won't leave him!"

Osamu's eyes flared up in anger and he rose up to his full height like some horrible monster about to strike down a town. Lune's courage died the moments that the anger became visible in his eyes. He took a step forward ready to lay into her when suddenly another voice spoke out. "Leave her be Osamu, she's made up her mind and there is nothing we can do about it. Beside, far be it from me to come between any love that is strong enough to stand up to you."

Lune spun around towards the source of the voice. It came from a very tall man who was fully armored he even still wore his mask. He had on very unusual armor; it looked like it came from several different styles of armor forced together. Most of the armor was red, but those red marks probably came from blood stains and not any common dye. The sight of him entranced Lune and at first her fear seamed only to deepen at the sight of another monster here to steal her away. Then the true meaning of his words started to sink into her mind and the fear in her mind was replaced by joy. She looked to Osamu, the rage in his eyes seemed to subsided and was replaced by skepticism.

"Do you really love him Lune?" She shook her head vigorously, "Do you love him enough to fight me if I tried to take you away by force?" She shook her head, "Would you be absolutely miserable as the emperor wife, even to the point of taking your own life?"

She answered, "Yes, a thousand time yes. Please Osamu, I am begging you don't take me away from the only real happiness I have ever known."

Osamu looked at her with an honest look of kindness and concern and then he said, "Alright, far be from me to step in between true love."

Lune started to jump and down for joy and thanked Osamu a thousand times over and a thousand times again. She couldn't believe the mad demon of the capital was showing her mercy and compassion. After a few moments he motioned to his partner as said, "Come on Oda, let's go back to the capital and tell the emperor that she died or something."

"May you two have a long and truly happy life life together. I will pray for you two lovers all the days of my life." The other man said as he left, and for a moment the slightest hint of guilt burst onto Lune's face as she realized that she made these two men believed that Yamato loved her when even she didn't know that. Osamu's partner picked up on it in a split second.

"He does love you back, right?" He asked.

"Well…." Lune responded as she bit down on her lower lip.

"Oh Lune," Osamu exclaimed, "Are you throwing away your life for a man who doesn't even love you?"

"No, no, no," Lune cried as she watched her last true shot a freedom slip away into the night. "I really do love him, but I don't know if he loves me back, that's all. I mean he acts real shy around me and he certainly doesn't mistreat me or yell at me or anything, I just don't know how he truly feels."

"Ahhh," Osamu's partner sighed, "You poor little girl, to be so deeply in love and yet to not know if the feeling is mutual. Truly there could be no greater torture for a young lover. Osamu isn't there anything we can do?"

"There is actually, I just so happen to have a bit of Sun Heart Root with me she could use." Osamu produced a small plant from his armor that looked like a small brown dead bush. He handed it over to Lune who held it with wide eyed wonder.

"I have never heard of Sun Heart Root, what is it? How will it help me?"

"The Sun Heart plant is a mystical rose that grows up in the mountains. During the evening and night it appears only as a white bulb, but when the sun raises the plant opens up and changes from white to a brilliant color. The color it changes to is different every morning it said to chose what color to be based on what the sun feels in it heart, hence its name."

"That's amazing!" Lune chimed.

"But that's not all, the root of the plant has special properties, when mixed with Sake it becomes a potent truth serum."

"What's a truth serum?"

"It's a powerful magic potion that makes people reveal their innermost secrets if directly asked about them without even realizing it. If you mixed some of this in with Yamato's sake then you could ask him if he loved you, point blank and he would answer you truthfully."

"Wooow! and he wouldn't even know that he confessed to me."

"Nope, so you can have absolute assurance of his love for you while patiently waiting for him to work up his courage to confess on his own." Lune leapt up into Osamu's arm and thanked him for the root and ran off towards the camp. After about fifteen yards or so she turned around and yelled back to them.

"But wait, if someone sees me pouring a powder into Yamato's drink they will think that I poisoned him and will take away his sake."

"No worries, just wait till the camp gets ready for supper and then mix some into the big sake barrels that everyone gets their rations from everyone will be too busy to notice you and you will be sure to get Yamato affected."

"But the whole camp be affected by it then?"

"Yeah it will, but it's not like people go about asking each other deep personal questions during dinner, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Good point." Lune said as she ran off to the camp.

After she had vanished from sight, Osamu turned to Nobuhide and said, "Dear Gods are we good at this or what?"

"I believe the term you're looking for is, 'are we evil or what?'"

Skip

The first then that Rage ever experienced in his life was order to find a master who could challenge God himself and learn everything he could from that man. The first thing he ever saw was a room full of men to old to think straight and others to young to realize that they weren't thinking straight. In the corner of the room was a boy with bits of glass stuck in his face and insect heads on his hands. He was right. Another boy stood at the other side of the room; he was bald, had a pair of bowls where his ears should be and large gloves. He was wrong. Rage could never explain how he knew this, since he was only several seconds old by that point, but none the less he was absolutely sure of it.

The first thing Rage ever heard was the words, "Good morning son, who are you and what do you think of these people?"

The first thing Rage ever said was, "My name is Rage the Wrathful of the Seven Deadly sins. I think that there has never been a larger group of wasted materials in the universe."

"Isn't he just a gas folks," said a fast talking man in an expensive looking Kimono, "Bidding starts at 5000 barrels of rice. Do I hear 5000? Yes sir you in the back I see. Do I hear 5500? 5500 folks for your very own all powerful robot boy? Yes 5500 from the man in the third row, how about 6500?...."

The man went on like that for a while, driving the price up by nickels and dimes till at last he exclaimed, "And sold to the gentleman in the back with 25675 barrels of rice on him."

The old man who had won approached Rage with no small amount of care, smiling happily at his purchase. He introduced himself as Rage's new master and told him to follow him out the pagoda. Rage walked out of the room with the old man and shut the door after himself as the other old men began to gossip amongst themselves. Rage got to the second floor down from the auction room before grabbing his new 'Master' lifting him off the ground with one hand and throwing him out of the building. The old man fell 70 stories down to his death on the thick stone foundation below him.

The kill felt good to Rage. It was very, very right. He could have killed him at anytime but somehow killing him at that exact moment somehow made the kill seem very right. As if killing with in Dunstan's sight was taboo but everywhere else was fair game. Rage smiled to himself as he looked around. He had a whole immortal life to enjoy this world and all of its little easily breakable creatures and somewhere out there was a man who could fight against God and that man was Rage's future master. The best place to start looking for him was probably with god himself.

Skip.

Any licensed professional would have labeled Lune a manic depressant with bipolar tendencies by this point in her day. This is because if someone mapped out her mood on a Cartesian plane since she had encountered Osamu in the woods it would have looked like a sign function on crack cocaine. On the one hand she was excited to finally get a chance to learn if Yamato really loved her, on the other hand, soon she would learn if Yamato really loved her.

_What if he likes me! How will I contain myself till he confesses?_ She thought to herself. _What if he only likes me as friend? Would I have to seduce him, or could I live with just being friends? What he secretly hates me and only tolerates me out of his pure nature? What if he loves someone else? What if he loves that man? OHHHHH NOOOOO!_ She couldn't stand the anxiety, the worrying the waiting. Maybe she should just try to put in his drink and not in the ration barrel.

She took ten steps outside of the tent before running back inside out of fear. She then decided to go to the ration house and wait for a chance. She only got five steps outside that time. She then decided to go and ask someone for help in making her decision. She took three steps, and then panicked. She then decided to just dump the root and be done with it; she could live without truly knowing. She did even take a step when she thought she saw Osamu giant head glaring at her from the sky. Eventually she just started pacing back and forth repeating her earlier mental conversation. When she got to the point where she was about to go outside to tryout her latest plan, she found that she had wandered over the ration house on her own.

"Why hello there Lune! You're looking lovely as usual."

"Oh high there, Hyottoko I didn't see you there." The man she was speaking to was a giant, over six feet in height he towered over everyone in the army, even over Yamato himself. He was one of the few warriors who had been with them since the beginning. And he was a great cook.

"High LUNE-SAN" A high almost girlish and excited voice called about from behind Hyottoko. It was the man himself, Lune's eternal love rival.

"High there Ultimo helping out with dinner again?"

"Uru loves cooking! It's so much fun to make such joy with nothing but taste." Ultimo stood about four and a half feet in height and was beauty, grace and power personified. Physically he looked like a perfectly normal, if somewhat weird 12 year old boy; except that he was hovering a foot off the ground. Ultimo never really learned what gravity was for and sometimes he just forgot about it all together. On the other hand Lune had never learned how it was possible for a boy wearing gloves the size of his upper torso to do something as delicate as cooking.

"What brings Lune over here? Do you want to help Uru prepare tonight's meal?" Ultimo asked in a friendly way.

"Actually yes I do, while I was out picking flowers today I saw this." She held up the Sun Heart Root and gave it Hyottoko he looked it over carefully while Ultimo flew up over his shoulder to get a better look.

"What is it?" He asked,

"It's the root to a Sun Heart plant. They are very rare in the wild, we used to have some in the capital, if you grind it up in the Sake and let it sit for a while it gives the Sake the most wonderful spicy flavor."

"Really?!!" Ultimo exclaimed in an excited way, he was a sucker for spices of any kind. "Let Uru see it," he concluded as he grabbed at the roots. Hyottoko laughed a bit and tossed the roots back to the excited flying boy.

Ultimo then rushed over to the sake rations that would be used tonight and quickly ground some the root up and let it fall into the barrel. He then fused the fingers on his right glove together to make them into a large paddle and used it to stir up the sake. After he was finished he turned and smiled at Lune and said, "Thank you Lune I am sure that master will love the sake tonight."

"I am sure he will," She agreed as the vanished back into the camp.

Later that night, everyone came together to share in the evening meal. Everyone picked up some of the spiced sake to go along with their rice and fish. The men sat around various different fires in the fading twilight as they joked with each other and enjoyed the cool of the coming night. The sake was especially enjoyable; everyone loved the spicy taste to it. Around the main camp fire Bandit King Yamato sat with his lieutenants: Hyottoko and Daruma and with Lune and Ultimo. He was the only one who had taken the sake.

"Come on guys you've got to try this wine! I mean I can understand Ultimo not drinking it, since he doesn't drink or eat for that matter, but you all have no excuse for not enjoying it." Yamato himself was a strange man to end up Bandit King. He was warm and kind, and loved laughing and drinking with his buddies. He preferred to avoid battle and never left his victims destitute, unless they were nobles. But he was a leader and Hyottoko and Daruma would follow him to the ends of the earth.

"You know I swore off the stuff since my third wife died." Daruma responded to his old friend's pleas, "I am an old man now; I have to watch what I eat and drink."

"I would love to try it, but I am on sentry duty tonight, and you know the rules, no one on sentry duty can drink alcohol of any kind."

"Bah," Yamato said dismissively "You're a bandit, screw the rules, have a little fun!"

"You can't say that Master, you're the one who made the rule." Ultimo said in an accusing voice.

"I did? Why the heck did I ever make a rule like that? Must have been drunk." The group laughed at their leader and continued to talk the night away as the sun slowly set over the horizon. After a while, just before the Sun cleared the tree line, Lune judged that the root had had plenty of time to have its effects and she spoke.

"Master Yamato?"

"Yes Lune," Yamato responded sensing the change in her tone.

"I have to ask you something."

"What is it Lune?"

"Do you lo…" She got no farther than that when the first scream started. It started out as one man who then quickly collapsed into quieter sobs of pain, but dozens of others soon took his place from all over the camp. Within seconds a full chorus of screams of pain was sounding from all around the command tent. Seconds more passed then Yamato collapsed, he bit his lip to hold in the scream and his body broke out in a cold sweat.

"What is this?!!" He cried, "Is it a doji attack?" He said desperately searching his mind for explanations.

"It can't be," Daruma exclaimed, "I am unaffected, so is Hyottoko and Lune, it must be something else."

As if taking cues from some higher, slightly comedic power, at that exact moment a sentry, who also appeared unaffected came running up to the command tent. "Sir the northern Sentries have been wiped out, were under attack!"

"What!!" Yamato exclaimed, "Who and how many?"

"We don't know who sir, there appears to only be two of them. Both are swordsmen one is wearing stolen armor which is mostly red and the other is wearing imperial colors."

Yamato's mind raced back to a report he received a few weeks back from a bandit group that had almost wiped out by an imperial attack. The description matched those in the report of two men. "Kensai!" Yamato cried under his breath.

"Ultimo," Yamato ordered as he seemless switched over the good natured man he had been seconds earlier to the experienced battle commander that had sacked the capital itself. "Get over there a clear out the wounded and the sick get as many men as possible out of their way, Daruma Hyottoko, stop the bleeding but avoid a long conflict with them, these men are too dangerous to face toe to toe." The three soldiers nodded and headed out. Daruma and Hyottoko grabbed their pikes and Ultimo took off into the air. When they had left, Yamato turned to Lune and said: "Lune, your question will have to wait, get me my sword!"

Skip

Rage looked down on the small camp with great interest. He was starting to love this world more and more. It was filled with so many closed minded fools. Dark men, who nursed deep rooted hatred and old quests for vengeance like they were actually justified, sat about one another with plenty of weapons and nothing to do but nurse their grudges. To think that the god of heaven made his bed among such sinners.

Now those sinners had gotten themselves into quite a pickle, betrayed by one of their own they were now sick and defenseless against far greater sinners. It was those sinners who caught Rage's eye. Such incredible passion, such raw hatred, he had never seen anyone like this before. They were ready and willing to burn the world to the ground to quench their bloodlust and not even Rage himself had reached such a level. Their angers was so great that Rage could see through their eyes and feel the cold bite of the iron armor burning through the soft silk against the skin. He loved it. He would watch this fight with incredible delight.

Skip

Nobuhide and Osamu cut through the enemy ranks like wheat threshers. They did not know how long the bitter root would keep them down but they needed to be in and out before that time passed. It was easy enough; none of their foes had the strength needed to stand against them for long even while in perfect health. While they had been poisoned like this they could barely hold their swords.

When the two spearmen approached them they paused only for a moment. Not because they were surprised to see someone standing but because both sides could see the incredible strength of the other side. Such rare encounters of four master warriors had to be done by the book, and the book required a stare down before a dual. Neither side said a word; both sides smiled. Osamu moved first sheathing his sword and drawing his bow; his third arrow was in the air before Daruma saw the first. Daruma leapt to the side and grabbed a fallen shield. He came back up and began to circle the archer who leapt out in front of him letting dozens of arrows fly.

The giants stared at each other for a second longer. Hyottoko carried a long staff with a sickle shaped moon at the end. Nobuhide had a five foot long No-dachi sword; he was out ranged, but he had greater power then his foe. He charged. Hyottoko struck with the spear at his foe but Nobuhide ducked under it and swung his sword. Hyottoko jumped back as two tents were torn in half. Nobuhide pressed the attack, this time bringing his sword down to pin his opponents spear under his own weight, Hyottoko avoided the battle of power and shifter his pike to the right and then brought it forward in an another thrust. Nobuhide brought his blade back up, throwing rocks and dust into Hyottoko's eyes and forcing him to back up. Nobuhide pressed the attack swinging in from the left. This time Hyottoko had to block but he still avoided head on confrontation and instead turned Nobuhide's sword down in to the dirt and then kicked him in the chest. Nobuhide took a step back from the force and resumed the offensive.

Darumu did little better then Hyottoko, he eventually out maneuvered the archer and stripped him of his bow, but not after his shield had crumbled away to nothing, had been replaced and then destroyed again. He was within striking range, so the archer dropped his bow and drew his sword and sheath and took of the offensive. Daruma was doing very well to hold off the fury of bows but he was too close to attack with his spear and too hard pressed to draw his sword. His time was running out.

Yamato arrived just as the spear shaft broke and Daruma was knocked to the ground by a blow to the neck with the enemy sheath. Osamu moved for the death blow but Yamato was very fast when his subordinates were in danger. He blocked the kill shot with his own sword and started to force his enemy back with a barrage of powerful two handed blows. Osamu gave ground but he was in no danger Yamato was badly crippled by the bitter root and Osamu knew it, his attacks became predictable and Osamu pushed his blade down into a stump with his sheath while slicing out with his own sword. Yamato had to let go of his own sword in order to save his arms but now he was pinned, backed up to a fire pit with long tables on either side.

"What a pity," Osamu said, "You would've been one hell of challenge if you weren't sick, but a kill is a kill and job is a job, Bandit King Yamato, your finished." Osamu swung with his sheath trying to push Yamato into the flames but the sheath was stopped. Rather than striking Yamato it had been grabbed by an enormous pair of gloves which were connect to body that was doing a handstand on thin air, six feet above the ground.

"Honestly master, Uru leaves you along for five minutes and master gets into a death dual while crippled." The hand stand boy said in a very calm and soothing voice.

"Ultimo!" Yamato exclaimed, "Are the wounded safe?"

"Yes master all the wounded have been saved."

"That's very good, Ultimo, a very good job indeed, now it's time for you to pass some judgment on these poisonous bastards."

"Right away Master!" Ultimo said in a cheery voice. He then flipped himself right side up and hovered about a foot off the ground right in front of Osamu. "Master has taught me that true justice can come only after true mercy has been offered. If you leave now and give up the sword and your murderous rage, I promise no harm will come to you."

A thousand questions fluttered about in Osamu's mind and the strategist in him was screaming for him to withdraw and reconsider a new strategy, there were too many unknowns present here. But the wolf inside of Osamu was howling for blood, he could see his prey, he need half a second to kill him, half a second no more no less. Osamu listened to the wolf and swung his sword without thinking. Ultimo hand moved faster than Osamu could follow it. He saw nothing, he felt nothing, and he heard nothing. His last memory was the sight of his sword falling apart into five evenly sliced pieces as he body start to do the same.

Nobuhide saw the closest thing he had to a friend fall to his death. Sliced up like nothing that Nobuhide had ever seen before. Oddly enough, he also felt nothing. He didn't fell the rage surge through his body. He didn't feel his sword sing as he smashed though Hyottoko's defenses, he didn't feel his enemy's flesh as he grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into a tree. He never felt his hand grab his Kadotchi, and he never felt any resistance as he pinned Hyottoko to the tree through his heart. He didn't feel his feet pounding over the forest floor in the midst of the bandit camp, he didn't feel the wind rushing over him as he charged his best friend's murderer. He didn't even hear his own scream. All he could do was watch. He watched as the boy turned to him, he watched as the boy vanished, he watched as he swung at empty space, and he watched his No-datchi fall into five pieces as Ultimo cut through it with his bare hands.

He did feel the kick. He also felt the tree that the kick sent him flying into thirty feet farther back from where he had stood a moment ago. He felt his ribs crack and he felt dozens of his organs squeeze tightly against one another as they began to bleed. He tasted the blood surging up through his throat and he felt the icy had of death wrap itself around his neck. He still couldn't see the boy move, but he knew where the attack was coming from.

Nobuhide drew his final weapon, the old Katana which had belonged to his father. The same blood stained katana which had avenged his sister, which had been reformed by that strange westerner and had taken the lives of more men, then Nobuhide could count. He knew it would break, he didn't care. He had been born a violent child who even stole his mother's life coming into this world; he would leave it in the same way, fighting the inevitable.

A loud "CLANG" shook the camp. Nobuhide looked up and was amazed to see that the sword was holding against this boy. It took all of his strength to keep the kid's hand from crushing him like a fly but he had done it. His sword had stopped him.

"Impressive," Ultimo said to himself, "But futile, none escape God's judgment," He concluded as he pulled back his left arm and balled it into a fist and said, "Wisdom of Purity, Lion Head Fist." As he spoke his fist formed into a lion, a massive red metallic lion which was twice the size of the boy who held it.

Nobuhide couldn't move, his body was utterly broken and if he took even the slightest bit of strength away from his sword arm holding Ultimo's right arm at bay he would have been sliced to pieces. In one final act of defiance he spat at Ultimo. Ultimo swung, Rage descended. He landed on Ultimo's glove like a meteorite forcing the massive lion down into the ground. Safely away from Nobuhide.

Rage calmly turned to Ultimo and said, "Sorry God, but hell has come to claim its own, and this one's mine." He then grabbed Nobuhide and jumped up into the air. After a moment of hesitation Ultimo jumped after him, but it was too late. As Rage rose higher into the air he faded from view and eventually vanished all together.

Hours later, a hundred miles away, Nobuhide regained enough feeling in his body to turn to his four foot tall, white haired savior. He said, "Who are you? Why did you save me? How are you flying?"

"I am Rage the Wrathful, I am a Karakuri doji just like the boy you fought. Only I am evil and he's good. I saved you because that anger you felt was intoxicating to me. It's the most powerful anger I have felt in all the land. If teach me to wield that kind of anger I will become your page and give you the strength to attain your vengeance."

"Ah," Nobuhide said as he was just about to slip into unconsciousness, "that sounds nice."

"Then you will be my master Oda Nobuhide?"

"No, I will be your master, but not as Oda Nobuhide, he died in that forest, from now on call me…."

"_Shogun what the hell are you doing with that boy?!!!!"_And then the memory faded and Shogun crawled back to the land of the living.

End of Prologue part 2.


	6. Chapter 4: The Evil Doji Club

Chapter 4: The Evil Doji club.

"Shogun, what the hell are you doing?" The clearly enraged female voice demanded, jerking Shogun back into reality, and it was a harsh reality. Shogun himself had no idea what he was doing, half a second earlier he was convinced that he was living in medieval Japan fighting duals with the gods themselves. So he decided to take stock of himself.

He hurt all over. There was not a single muscle in his whole body that was not crying out in pain. His organs were fairly convinced that a few seconds ago they had been inches away from total failure. His bones were honestly surprised that there were no fractures in them, and so they decided to complain about potential fractures anyway, just to be on the safe side. His nerves however, knew exactly what had happened to them and they were not about to let him forget.

_Dear God!_ Shogun thought to himself, _I took the oath with Rage._ Yes that right, his nerves confirmed for him, and that oath required that long wires made out of some unknown metal aggressively burrow their way through you and wrapped around us. AND IT BLOODY WELL HURT!!! _I am sorry, _Shogun pleaded with his body, _It seemed to be the wise thing to do at the time._ Well it wasn't, his body replied.

Extending his senses outside of his own body, Shogun soon realized that the room was much colder than it had been earlier; at least there was a nice large mass of heat around his chest. _Wait a minute, _Shogun thought, _I AM NAKED!_ The realization flooded over him destroying every other concern in his mind, except for one which soon launched a fierce counter attack. _AND I AM HOLDING RAGE IN A FETAL POSITION TO MY CHEST!_

Sure enough Shogun was lying on the floor of the private hospital room in Mr. Sanji office headquarters, butt naked. Not just butt naked, but he was clinging on to the child like body of Rage as if they were lovers. Their faces were inches away from one another as Rage slept peacefully, his large arms curled up in front of him like he was trying to keep warm in the cold night. Five feet behind him the nurse was wearing a look of horror, disgust, embarrassment and fear all at once.

"I assure there is a perfectly rational explanation for this." Shogun began in a voice that was as calm and logical as he could muster, "You see, Rage and I had to become one flesh in order to unleash his full potential. So we took the Oath of Love and he entered into me as I touched his soul, and when it was over we must had grabbed on to one another in our sleep to keep warm…. And for some reason I think that this explanation has made things worse."

"YOU THINK?!"

"Well, about this one: I know what I am doing and if you continue to question me I will smash your brains in with a led pipe."

"Shogun what you just did is illegal!"

"The vast bulk of what I do is illegal."

"But this is morally wrong and illegal."

"See my previous comment."

"You know what I mean. You're always complaining about how Dynamo is a perverted bastard and now you're going to go and do the same thing yourself?"

"One: I have no problem with being a hypocrite; over the last few days have committed more murders that you could imagine all because two of my friends got shot. Two: I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING AND IF YOU KEEP QUESTIONING ME I WILL BASH YOUR BRAINS IN WITH A LED PIPE!"

The nurse had quite a few words to say about this, but her survival instincts kicked in and held her back. She did say: "This is not the end of this."

"I think it is, and could find me some clothes?"

"What happened to your old ones?"

"They were probably destroyed when the thousands of steel wires and long cables inside of Rage buried themselves in my limbs and chest in order to wrap around my nerves and improve my body to the point that it could handle a complete fusion."

"Wait," the nurse cried out as she turned around, "What did you s…" Then Shogun slammed the door in her face.

Rage had woken up by that point and he was a chipper and excited as ever. "Did you sleep well master? I tried to keep you warm after you fell asleep."

"With your body no doubt, did the thought of getting me a blanket or some clothes ever cross your mind?"

"Didn't my body keep you warm?"

"Well, yes, but that's not the point."

"Then what is master?"

_Good lord,_ Shogun thought to himself, _he has no honest idea at all._ _That naivety will pose a problem, but this isn't the best time to talk about that. _"Never mind," Shogun finally said after some thought.

"Master?"

"You know Rage if you want to ask me a question, just ask it. Don't ask if you can ask it."

"Right master, I was wondering what you saw when we took the oath."

The question sparked a headache for Shogun as all the memories he had picked up off of Rage came rushing back to him. He squeezed his eyes and forced them back down and instead pulled up a summary of them.

"Too much," he finally answered. "There was simply too much Rage I ended up focusing on your memory of our first encounter. I know the rest, but it's more like text book knowledge then real experiences."

"Then you know that…"

"The world as I know it will end in three years on May 7th 2012. Either all the earth will be destroyed or all of civilization will fall under the influence of either the Zen Doji Club or the Evil Doji Club. Beyond that I don't know."

"What do you think will happen then?" Rage said in a worried voice. For a moment Shogun was amazed that the little ball of hatred and destruction who had fought against god himself and all of his follower was feeling fear. Then he realized that he was shaking to. Three year, three short years, then he would be measured with fire and steal; and if he didn't measure up then he and everything he knew and cared for would be struck down.

"We are going to kick ass and take names, and between you and me, I hate writing down names."

Rage smiled, the fear was forgotten. Focus was the key. Focus on the fight, focus on the moment, and focus on the anger. The future will sort itself out if that in the present they have proper focus.

Skip

A few miles outside of the grand old city of Tokyo, there was a large private estate nestled away in the side of the old mountains surrounded by a large forest. It belonged to Iruma Tomomitsu the city's mayor. After the police bombing incident Tomomitsu had made a few grand speeches about how he fully supported the efforts of the police, and then he had made a quick escape to his country estate.

This move would probably cost him when the next set of poles came around but that didn't concern Tomomitsu. What did concern was the fact that the Yakuza probably blamed him for all of this and would soon come for him. They would come to take his head, but Tomomitsu was not concerned about that. Like most cowards, the thought that he could die from all of this never really crossed his mind, instead he was only focused on how he was sure to lose the next election if he didn't have the support of the mob.

All of this combined to ensure that the Yakuza hit men, who had come to rough up Tomomitsu as punishment for stepping out of line, found it very easy to infiltrate his country home. Normally they would've had to kill several guards or hack a security system by now, but as they stood just outside of the main door they had not encountered a single guard or encountered a working security camera. Absolutely nothing had stood in their way and, any like any good soldier, this had made them paranoid of entering through the main door. Things were too quiet and therefore this had to be trap.

After staring at the door for several minutes they had decided to enter through a window into an unused room in the western wing of the mansion. They still hadn't seen a soul. There wasn't even a maid or a butler who had to be silenced. There was also no sign of Tomomitsu, leading the hit men to believe that he had skipped town on them. After sweeping then entire lower floor of the mansion they made their way up to the second floor and swept that as well. The third floor proved to be empty as well, and so was the fourth floor. After making their way up to the top floor and to the last room in the house, the hit men were now convinced that no one was in the house and were moving very casually.

"Good evening gentlemen," a surprising voice said as they entered the last room of the top floor. The room was a typical private office complete with a large desk in the back with a large swivel chair that was turned away from them. It soon swiveled around to reveal Iruma Tomomitsu looking very proud of himself.

"I hope you all have enjoyed your tour of my house, it took over three years to build while I slowly worked my way up from a party regular to mayor of Tokyo itself."

"And you remember," one of the hit men responded after regaining his composer, "That the only reason that you got that job is because the Yakuza backed your campaign? Cause you sure don't act like it. You called a SAT team down on the heads of a protected brothel, what were you thinking? Did you believe you would get to play hero to the cameras? Well I hope you lived up your fifteen minutes of fame, because after were through with you no one will be able look at your face for more than five seconds without losing their lunch."

"No I don't remember that at all. I remember fighting like a demon to get what was rightfully mine in life and using you Yakuza as a tool to get it. But now you have turned on me and when a tool turns on its master it must be destroyed." Iruma snapped his fingers to punctuate his last sentence and at that moment a loud slicing and splatter sound could be heard.

The hit man turned around just in time to see three of his five men fall to the floor in various states of dismemberment. His last partner drew his gun and wasted several round of ammo firing at the boy standing behind the butchered corpses. His gun went silent as he ran out of bullets. And the boy leapt at him, and swung, what looked like a large blade attached to a very large hand guard, at the panicking hit man and cut him in half right down the center.

The body fell, the boy didn't. He hung in the air as he reached behind him and turned on the lights in the room. He was about four feet tall or so, with long oily black hair and bits of glass scattered about his face. He wore the lower half of a kimono and a vest over his chest. His arms vanished into a pair of huge gloves that were larger than any other part of his body, and looked like large insect heads. He was covered in crimson blood accept for seven places where seven black bullets were firmly lodged in his skin.

The last hit man stared at him with a combination of wonder terror and anger working his way across his face. While he stood in utter disbelief, Iruma got up and walked around him to the side of the boy. He put his arm around the boy and smiled at the terrified hit man.

"Do you like him? His name is Jealous the Envious, he is a god and he works for me. So you can go back to your employers and you can tell them that no matter what they do, I am here to stay, and that things are going to change around here."

He and Jealous then stepped aside and the hit man's survival instincts kicked in to take him very far away from what was certain death. As he ran Iruma called out him: "By the way you can tell that barbarian Oda Nubuhide that if he doesn't turn Rage over to me by this time tomorrow I will send Jealous to wipe out the council."

Skip

An hour and a half after his encounter with the nurse, six and a half hours after taking the oath with Rage, a properly dressed Shogun walked into Mr. Sanji's office with a stack of papers shoved under his arm. He was walking very quickly because he wanted to get this taken care of and get out of the building before the good doctor finds out that he had left. He greeted his boss warmly and nodded politely to Dynamo who a sitting in the back with a cold look on his face.

"Right, good news first: Rage can be killed. In the center of his chest is a white round sphere which is, for all practical purposes, his soul. Touch it and he's helpless, crack it and he loses consciousness. Shatter it and he dies. The bad news is that I will disembowel anyone who even thinks of doing this."

"Even me?" Mr. Sanji said as he and Dynamo looked up in surprise.

"For you sir, I will make an exception, and I will only knock you out." Shogun said in the perfectly straight face that meant he was deadly serious.

"Why?"

"First in order to protect you, Rage's body is made out of materials that won't be synthesized for another seven hundred years, which can with stand a direct hit from a fifty megaton nuclear bomb. He also draws power from dimensions of reality that we can neither perceive nor comprehend. He is totally immortal to human hands. The second reason is more important. Rage is a vital part of a war between good and evil and if he dies it could very well lead to the destruction of organized crime as we know it."

"How so?"

"There are fourteen other weapons like Rage in the world right now" Mr. Sanji looked at Shogun with his sharp eyes looking for any signs of deceit. Finding none he asked:

"Weapons? He looks like a perfectly normal boy to me."

"He looks like one, but there is not an ounce of organic material in him. Not a square inch of flesh or a drop of blood. He is completely mechanical."

"You mean he's a machine?" Dynamo demanded, "You did it with a mechanical boy?"

"Yes he is a machine." Shogun said, ignoring the second part of his question while he made a mental note to kill the nurse latter today. "A damn near all powerful, totally evil machine. There are seven other evil machines just like him, and seven good ones as well. Three years from now they will have at, and if the good ones win were out of a job."

"Are you certain about that?"

"Positive, two of them are mind readers, one can manipulate space and time itself. A forth can't be lied to, none of them can be killed by us, none of them can be corrupted. How can organized crime exist in a world where the government is supported by the gods themselves?"

Mr. Sanji nodded to himself recognizing the truth in that statement. "If they can't be killed how can they fight a war?"

"They can be killed by each other, but the destruction will be unimaginable. Their original creator predicted that if they ever fought each other in a group the world as we know it will be destroyed."

"Sir you're not honestly buying this are you?" Dynamo demanded to know, "This is nonsense, he finds one boy who is rather hard to kill and know he's talking about then end of the world and wars fought by gods. Shogun has gone off the deep end. It's time to end this."

Mr. Sanji was silent for a few moments. It was unbelievable, but in this business Mr. Sanji had encountered more unbelievable things then he had ever imagined possible. Somehow, a lot of this seemed familiar and Mr. Sanji had learned to always trust his senses. He had seen real killing intent in Rage's eyes, felt real strength in his arms, come within inches of death and had just barely managed to bluff his way out.

"How did you find this out?" He finally asked after some time.

"I took what is known as the oath with Rage. I became his official master we were temporarily joined together. While we were joined Rage showed me his past and his memories of a possible future."

"Why does Rage need a master if he's as powerful as you say?"

"Machine's like Rage are limited in two ways, a power source and their programming. Rage draws power from a damn near spiritual source that he calls 'Love' and 'Hatred.' Near as I can tell, it's like an emotional waste product which has next to no effect on humans, but Rage's soul can convert into very real power. Rage can hold a near infinite amount of power, but he exhausts in quickly and it takes a damn long time to recharge. Against a rival machine, he could be exhausted in minutes. He needs a human master to supply it to him by taking the oath.

"The other limitation is in his programming, he only knows so many ways to use that power. But the more pure and solely wrathful he can become the more programming he can develop. He calls it his 'wisdom', he gains it by learning what his master considers to be evil and purifies himself into an image of that ideal. Effectively, a master for him is little more than a battery."

"Could that battery be easily replaced?"

"Effortlessly, but Rage has been made to believe that he is fated to be with a certain master, while you or Dynamo could do the job just as well as I could, Rage will refuse to use any other master till I die, and will have his vengeance against my murderer."

"So then, I suppose it wouldn't do us any good to hunt down the good side's master and kill them?"

"No sir. Killing them gets us nowhere, but tracking them down will do us a world of good."

"How so?"

"The machines are searching for their masters, slowly but surely seeking them out in preparation for the final battle. They will find each other, and once they do there is a small but vital window of opportunity to act. After the master has found his machine for us, it will take time for the machine to get his master to take the oath with him, and until he does the machine will be exposed and weak."

"And you and Rage can easily dispatch them."

"Precisely sir."

"How do you intend to find them?"

"Rage knows what their faces look like." Shogun said as he spread a mass of paper out over the conference table. There were fourteen faces of little kids with little bits of glass scattered about their heads and fourteen heads underneath them from a various stages in life. All of them had names scattered around them.

Motioning to six of them Shogun said, "The good side consists of the six perfections: Regula, Sophia, Service, Slow, Goge and Perdona; Sophia and Charity are the most dangerous. Sophia can see a little ways into the future and can solve any logical problem posed to her. Charity is a teleporter, She can move anywhere she wants to at anytime she wants to. Beneath them are their masters: Shin Ekoda, Musashi Murayama, Yoichi Oizumi, Machi Shina, Hiroshi Kumegawa and Koun Shakuji. Over here are the other evil machines who call themselves The Seven Deadly Sins. Desiru, Allegro, Avero, Palace, Jealous, and Edible; Rage is the strongest of the seven deadly sins with Desiru running a close second. Their masters are: Miyoshi Sumako, Nhidaka Akira Oume Kaizou, Mizoh and Hana. The two to worry about though, are Ultimo and Vice. Ultimo is god incarnate, unimaginably powerful and totally righteous and honorable, his master is a man named Yamato. Vice is the devil himself, the only power that can rival Ultimo with no sense of self preservation, restraint and a nasty sweet-tooth for death and destruction, his master goes by the name 'K'."

"Where's the picture of Jealous's master?"

"Rage never met him, he died and Jealous was put to sleep long before Rage ever woke up."

"What would you do with the other evil Doji?"

"I am not certain Sir, last time Rage hardly worked with them at all, he did most of the work himself. They could make powerful allies, or dangerous rouges. Personally I don't trust them."

"Would Rage be willing to kill them if you ordered him to?"

"Rage would kill his grandmother if I don't specifically forbid him to. As far as he's concerned anyone outside of this room if fair game."

Mr. Sanji was silent for a long time, mulling all of this new information over in his head. Shogun could only guess at how is mind was processing this. It was clear that Dynamo thought that Shogun was certifiable at this point. Finally Mr. Sanji spoke in a calm clear voice that meant he was laying down the law.

"Rouge super machines, good or bad, would be bad for business, but I am not funding some wild goose chase. You have three days to prove that other machines exist, and by that I mean I want the mangled corps of one in my office in three days. No rumors, no blurry photographs, and no 'I found one but it ran off'; I want a broken and battered super machine on my desk by noon on Saturday. Got it?"

"Yes sir." Shogun responded as he prepared to leave. When he reached to door he turned to Mr. Sanji and asked, "If I'm not crazy and all of this is real, what do you want me do with the evil machines? Should I ignore them, or kill or recruit them?"

"Use your own judgment. If they pose any threat at all kill them on the spot, if not then form some kind of evil super machine club for all I care. Just make sure that they don't interfere with my business."

"Yes sir." Shogun said as he turned to leave when suddenly Dynamo's cell phone rang.

Shogun froze; Mr. Sanji looked up with interest as the cell phone cried the chorus of "It's the end of the world as we know it." Dynamo had six cell phones on his person any given time. Four of the phones had numbers that were known by his main informants in the four major quadrants of Tokyo. But he kept those phones turned off during his meetings with Mr. Sanji. The other two were always on and always fully charged. One had a number only known to his 'son' and security firm that monitored his house like a hawk. The last one was his emergency phone that only, Mr. Sanji, Shogun and Dynamo's top personal assistant knew the number to. Usually that phone only rang when Dynamo had thirty second to get out of the room before the first missile hit.

Dynamo answered it immediately and had a swift conversation with the man on the other end. After a few moments he closed the cell phone up and turned to Mr. Sanji and said, "The men sent to Iruma's just came back, hit went bad only one of them lived. He says that a four foot tall boy killed his men in a few seconds. He also said that Iruma has threatened to destroy the council unless someone named 'Oda Nobuhide' gives him Rage."

Mr. Sanji and Shogun exchanged looks of concern and wonder, there was no one in the world outside of that room who knew Shogun's full name. A name that had been outlawed for several centuries for very good reasons. But after a few moment Shogun pulled out a cirgerette and started to smoke while looking very pleased with himself.

"You said I have three days to get you a corps?" Shogun casually asked as he left the room, "I wonder if Viper is up for a little pay back?"

Outside of the room Rage was waiting with eager anticipation. The moment Shogun closed the door he leapt up to him and asked, "What did he say?"

"If we can capture or kill another Doji within the next three days then we can form your Evil Doji Club."

"That's great! But how are we going to find another Doji in just three days?"

"Well I have a pretty good idea about where Jealous might be."

"Really? How did you find him without a picture of his master?"

"He killed four men and threatened the boss."

"What?! How dare he! Threatening your boss and killing mindlessly is my job!"

"I know and he's such an amateur at it to. Hey Rage what do you know about Jealous's master?"

"Nothing master, he lost before I even woke up."

"How?"

"He tried to fight Ultimo without taking the oath, didn't go to well for him. It's always bad luck to face God as your first opponent in life."

"Yeah well this time around he has even worse luck because he will be fighting against us."

"Can I kill him master?"

"Only if he can't stop you. We don't need weaklings in the Evil Doji Club. Not if we're going to kill God at least."

End Chapter 4.


	7. Chapter 5: Gods at War

Chapter 5: Gods at War.

The police station was abuzz with activity. In the last four hours, cops had brought in more prostitutes for questioning then they had in the past four years. They had canvassed every street corner, gotten warrants for every house of questionable reputation and had offered to cut deals with every single person that they brought in. So far they had nothing. No one was willing to admit that they had ever worked in that one house. The judges were losing patience with them, and every lead led to a dead end. One thing was clear though, the Yakuza had gotten to them first.

Though no one claimed to have worked there, several were willing to testify that they knew who did. But those girls always showed up injured and scared out of their wits. They had been beaten, threatened and intimidated and after the bombing none of them believed that the police could protect them. Detective Morris was convinced that this proved her theory, but theories wouldn't send the bastard responsible for all of this to jail. The search through crime scene had turned up nothing, and the car was just as large of a dead end, the power to set things right laid in the hands of these girls and they couldn't get any of them to talk.

When they finally did get a good witness the whole station cried out with joy. She was a young girl, badly shaken up but not seriously injured. She didn't want to give her name, since she was badly worried about another attack. She was friends with one of the cops at the station and was only willing to speak with him. They tried everything they could to keep her comfortable. Detective Morris came as soon as she heard. Hitomi was debriefing her.

"So what's her story Hitomi?"

"She says that she worked at the brothel for a man name Hiroko, he never used his full name. Sunday night, after just opening up for business, three men entered the brothel. One was very tall and he carried a large stick, another was short and fat with an evil grin, the last one was of average height and he looked crazy. He was the one who broke down the door with his foot. He went into talk with the boss and all the girls decided to get scarce."

"So she can't guarantee that any of them were there when the cops showed up?"

"No, but she can testify that she was last girl to leave the brothel, and when she left the only people who were still there were her boss and those three men."

"Any chance of tracking down this Mr. Hiroko?"

"You can see him anytime you want to. He's down in the morgue, recovering from the last operation he'll ever receive. Brought in on an unrelated charge, brain was bashed in with a baseball bat; prints on the bat connect to a local street punk who was playing a pickup game of baseball that night, till Mr. Hiroko drove them off. The case seemed open and shut, boy had no alibi, has a reputation for violence, and several neighbors will testify that he left the sand lot swearing to kill Hiroko."

"Great, more dead ends, got anything else for me?"

"Our witness is working with a police sketcher so we can start looking for them, I can guarantee a search warrant when we track down these guys we're also looking into another potential lead."

"What's the lead?"

"She says that her boss paid regular protection money to one of the Yakuza bosses, and she was the one who took them their money. She took an envelope to the same man every week, with over a hundred thousand yen in it."

"Did she tell you who got the money?"

"We have a name and an address. He's coming in for questioning."

"How did we get the warrant all we've got on him is the word of one hooker?"

"We got the warrant because she claims that her boss was paying protection money to the Mr. Sanji."

"Is he a big name in the Yakuza world?"

"He's on the council of Five. He is one of five men who either control, plan, or benefit from about ninety percent of all crime in Tokyo, and by extension, thirty percent of crime in Japan, and five percent of all crime in Southeast Asia. He also happens to be the personal crusade of Judge Amori Hakudo. Any credible mention of his name to that judge and you can get any warrant you need."

"Right then, get the money man in here, yesterday. I also want police sketches from the girl's descriptions distributed to every station house and street corner in the city. I want these men found and arrested, and I want them here…."

"Yesterday, we've got it detective."

Skip

"These mountains certainly are nice this time of year." The first man said as he walked down the gravel road.

"I don't know, I still think it's too warm to properly enjoy the mountains. There's no reason to go up to the mountain, unless it's going to snow." The second man responded as he swung his walking stick back forth in the grass.

"I think we've got a pretty good reason to go up this time, Leo." The third man said as he lighted up a cigarette.

"You would think, so wouldn't you Shogun. But going up to avenge a fallen brother is never a good reason. It's a legitimate reason but not a good one." The first man responded.

"Why Viper when did you turn philosophical on me?"

"A near death experience changes a man, makes him think about what's really important."

"And what is truly important to you Viper?"

"Tequila, I haven't had nearly enough in my life. I mean, sure I love beating up politicians and all, but this is seriously cutting into my drunken time. I should be totally wasted by this time at night."

"And instead you're going out to waste someone else." Leo responded to him.

"Hey Leo, I don't want to hear that kind of talk coming out of you. We are taking this bastard in alive. Got it? We are doing this one by the book." Shogun called out.

"Which book? Your book?" Viper asked,

"Or Sanji's book?" Leo asked,

"Or the Sun Tzu's? Viper pestered,

"Or Negama's" Leo pressed

"Or the book of five rings?" Viper asked going one too far.

"Sun Tzu's Art of War and The Book of Five Rings don't have chapters on kidnapping." Shogun exclaimed as they came up to the main gate of the old mansion, catching the attention of the two guards on patrol in the court yard. "And you all should know that, they were one the summer reading list."

"I had business to take care of." Leo said excusing himself.

"I was wasted this past summer." Viper said,

"You were wasted the entire summer? And you're complaining that you haven't spent enough time drunk?"

"Well there were brief periods when I was wasting other people, so I could've done better."

"Well it's good to see that you have some goals set for your life. And to answer your questions, were doing it by Al Capone's book."

"Which one is that?"

"It's the one were several guys stand outside openly speaking about what they're going to do in order to distract the guards so they don't notice the other three guys sneaking up behind them." At the moment there was the sound of a few men grasping for air as their throats were torn apart by the long knives. Seconds later the gates opened up, the camera's in the house went out, the phones lines went dead, the cell phone tower experienced a critical system failure, and nine men quietly approached the main entrance to the mansion.

As they approached the main building Shogun raised up his right hand pointed to the right, then he did the same thing with his left hand. Viper took three men off to the right, and Leo took three men out to the left. Shogun drew a silenced P90 from under his coat and advanced on the main building. He and his men held their place outside of the main entrance for a minute and a half and then stormed the main room. Shogun shot three men dead on the stairs, while his wing men caught four others scattered about the room. Their silenced automatic weapons made quick work of them.

A few moments later they ascended the stairs to the second floor after sweeping to lower floor and killing two more men. The second floor was deserted; accept for the fallen corpses of guards where viper had already passed over. Their target was one the third floor in the dining room. He wouldn't move from that dining room, since it was one of the most secure in the building. Besides, that man honestly believed that he was invincible; he wouldn't be worried about an attack of this level. Nothing was easier then assassinating an "invincible" target.

Shogun gathered his men outside of the main door to the dining room. He pulled out a shortwave radio and asked, "Is everyone in place?"

"Yes," Viper said,

"Da," Leo confirmed.

Shogun kicked the door down and broke into the room, he immediately dropped two guards next to the target. Five other soft thumps confirmed that the others had hit their targets as well. Their main target, Iruma Tomomitsu was quietly eating his soup as his seven personal body guards fell to the ground with holes in their chests. After a few more sips of soup he stood and bowed to the heavily armed men around him.

"Welcome to my home gentlemen, why don't you all take a seat and we will talk this over. I am sorry that there is not soup for you all, I wasn't expecting any guests otherwise I would've sent the guards out for the evening like last time. I assume one of you is Oda Nobuhide?"

Shogun said nothing, but he simply stared at Tomomitsu for a few seconds. The man was absolutely confident, utterly convinced that he would not only survive this but would somehow come out on top.

"Well you don't have to admit it, all that matters is that you're here and which means that you all realize that I am the one in power here and changes are going to be made. I was very serious about destroying the council, all I have to do is snap my fingers and I can destroy you all. In fact…."

"'Cap him." Shogun said interrupting what was sure to be a long and extremely uninteresting monologue. Without batting an eye the man standing next to him pulled the trigger on his rifle and shot at Tomomitsu's knee cap. The bullets never reached him. A very long blade seemed to materialize right in the path of the bullet as a four foot tall boy with long black hair leapt to intercept it from his hiding place in the curtains. When Tomomitsu saw that the boy had forced to save him he became enraged.

"How dare you? Don't you realize that I hold all your lives in my hand? That I can kill you with a snap of my fingers? Or that I can kill your council? Or that I can destroy this city? Don't you know who I am?"

Before he could go on, Shogun interrupted once again, "No I don't know who you are. I know who the boy is. He's Jealous the Envious, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the first one that Dunstan ever made. And I know that yes, he could kill us all, and the council, and the city of Tokyo with all the effort of swatting a fly. But I don't know you, I have never seen you before, and from what I see now I think that you are a frail old weak man clinging to the power of one far greater then yourself to make a way in a world that rejects and suppresses you. I see a man who is manipulating an innocent boy and feeding off his strength, like you fed off the Yakuza, like you feed off the voters and the police. And you know what? I hate that sort of man."

"And what are you going to do about it Oda Nobuhide? I see that Rage hasn't come with you, so in the end you're just as powerless as you say I am. I am strong, and the strong prey on the weak, Jealous has a weak mind so I will prey on him, and with his strength I will now prey on you. Jealous, kill that man!"

Jealous moved to attack, Shogun couldn't see him move, he was as fast as Rage was. No, that wasn't quite right; Rage was slightly faster. Shogun had intercepted Rage once already and now he would do it again with Jealous. But by the time he realized this, Shogun had already sidestepped the broad sword. _The sword is made out of both his gloves combined, increasing his swinging power and its density as well. Interesting. _Shogun thought as he ducked another unseen blow. He had never moved like this before, but that didn't interest him, he was wisely focused on the sword. _It is the epitome of the two hand sword style, raw power and greater control. His form is less than perfect but somehow I doubt that matters. _Jealous swung again, and Shogun jumped over it, he felt anger rise in his body, he was half way into an adrenalin rush, and a berserk one at that to. _His movements are restricted though, a regular two hand style can switch to a one handed style with no effort to increase the range. His hands are physically joined I don't think they can part at all. _His adrenalin rush reached its peak, and his anger was making him see red. He screamed out as he dodged the next blow and struck Jealous on the face. _Perhaps he doesn't need to separate his hands because his arms can extend to cover the limited range. _

The blow only made Jealous angry, it didn't even make him flinch. He lashed out wildly at Shogun, the sword appearing like flashes in his eyes as it struck in between the frames of sight that Shogun's eyes could measure. Shogun managed to dodge most of them by fractions of an inch, and was cut a few times by the flurry of blades. Given time, the wounds would have mounted up and Shogun would have been slowed down and been killed. Till then he struck at every opportunity and opening in his opponents form. He hit him dozens of times, not one blow left a mark or even slowed Jealous down, but each one made him even wilder.

Finally in desperation Jealous extended his blade till it was over twelve feet long and sliced right at Shogun's midsection so that he couldn't dodge without giving up his footing. As he swung Jealous cried out, "WHY CAN'T I HIT YOU?! YOU BASTARD!"

"CLANG" sounded the blade as it struck something very, very solid. The noise silenced the room. Jealous was frozen, Shogun merely turned around and faced Tomomitsu. "Firstly," He said, "My name isn't Oda Nobuhide, my friends call me Shogun; scum like you will whisper it in hushed and sacred tones. Second, I am not weak, I have fought against the gods before and I can do it again. Third, just because you can't see Rage doesn't mean he's not here."

Sure enough, hovering in the air, three feet over Jealous' head was the silver haired boy that named Shogun his master. He had a twelve foot long pike in his hand that looked like it was made out of his blood and went through his middle finger. The pike was embedded in the ground blocking the sword before it had even moved a third of the way through its swing.

"High there, Jealous!" Rage said in his bright and chipper voice as he waved his free had at Jealous like they were old friends.

"Rage," Jealous said in a quiet voice as if he was thinking of an old lost friend, then he screamed out, "You dare block my kill! When you yourself get to kill so many?! I WILL KILL YOU!"

Jealous swung his sword with all his strength at Rage, but just as the blade came near him, he vanished and reappeared right next to Jealous. He was still holding the long pike.

"Wisdom of the bull's pike." Rage said in a calm voice which only slightly betrayed his rising passion. As he spoke a second pike appeared in his other hand. It was very long, three times higher than Rage himself was. The pike was about two inches thick and had long curved blade attached to the end.

He pulled the other pike out of the ground and lunged at Jealous with it, forcing him block with the flat of his blade. Rage then pushed him with the pike and pushed him up into the air. He then jumped up into the air after him and swung his second pike like a baseball bat and sent Jealous flying through a wall and out of the mansion. He then leveled both of his pikes and held them in the middle. Just before his left, Shogun called out to him.

"He focuses on power, but holding the blade with both hands restricts his movements. He's also very good at reading opponents. Hit him from the side and don't give him time to catch his breath. Take him alive is possible, but don't let him back in here."

"Why, of course master, I appreciate your wisdom." Rage said in nearly sarcastic way as he took on a truly evil and excited smile. He then flew off into the night.

"Now then, Mr. Iruma, let's get down to business. First off, let me introduce to you two men of no consequence at all, whom you seriously injured when you stepped out of line."

"High there you bastard," Viper said as he cracked his knuckles and took up a wicked smile.

"We've wanted to meet you for some time." Leo said, as he pulled a baseball bat out of some unknown hiding place.

"And after they've had a nice long chat with you, you and I are going to have a wonderful conversation about the Evil Doji club and you bright future in it."

Skip

Jealous managed to stop himself about thirty feet outside of the mansion, he immediately reformed his hands into blades and awaited the coming of his foe. Jealous strained his eyes to their limit as he searched out his foe. He also reached out with his mind to take full advantage of his own powers. He still never noticed Rage till he was right next to him.

Rage swung out with his twin spears. Jealous ducked and lashed out with his blade, Rage vanished again and reappeared to his left. Rage jabbed with his left spear, Jealous lunged to his left, Rage spun around to bring his right spear back around, Jealous dropped his altitude to get under it. He swung up at Rage, Rage blocked his blade with one spear and brought his second one down jabbing at Jealous. For the slightest moment Jealous swore he saw two spears coming at him, so he dropped down into the forest.

Rage tossed one his spears up into the air and caught so the he now held it like a javelin. He took careful aim and threw it with all his might at Jealous. Jealous saw it coming and dodged it with ease, tearing off into the thickest portions of the forest as the spear impaled a tree. Rage replaced his pike in a second, and threw it a moment later. Jealous dodged it as well. Then Rage took off into the forest after him.

Rage broke the tree line right in front of Jealous and jabbed at hi, with his spears, fighting his own momentum, Jealous tried to desperately block with his sword. Jealous eventually reversed his direction and Rage began to drive him back. Jealous was getting desperate and frustrated, Rage had him on the ropes and there was nothing he could do. Every time he attacked, Rage would either vanish from sight or blur slightly as he ducked to one side. His attacks were impossible to predict and his attack rate was increasing. It was only a matter of time till Rage got lucky.

Jealous once again, retreated and started moving about the forest at random. Rage caught up with him in a few seconds, appearing right next to him in mid swing with his spears. Jealous couldn't react in time; both spears hit his chest and sent him flying backwards. Jealous tore through four trees before the fifth one stopped him dead. The spear tips had left a four inch wide gash in his chest, that he struggled to regenerate. Rage calmly walked towards him observing him.

"You seem to be having a hard time regenerating such a little scare." Rage said as he drew nearer,

"Screw you Rage, you just got lucky." Jealous said in between breaths.

"Looks like you're the one who's out of luck, fixing such a low level of damage shouldn't be a problem for someone like you, so why do you still bear the scar?" Rage asked casually,

"It's called it strategy." Jealous retorted

"I call it desperation, I sense no real power in you; even against my master your movements were very conservative. I don't think that you have taken the oath yet." Rage said while half smiling to himself.

"Shut up! It takes time to build a lasting a worthwhile relationship with your master. You have earn his trust before he will take the oath." Jealous said in self defense.

"Mine already took the oath with me." Rage responded like a child who had received a new toy while their sibling hadn't.

"Impossible, you haven't been awake for more two weeks."

"I guess my master is more interested in power and in getting the job done than yours is. Did he even take the oath with you in the last life?"

"SHUT UP AND DIE!" Jealous said as Rage struck a nerve and he flew into a blind fury which Rage soon turned into a blinding fury.

As Jealous swung at Rage, his target seemed to break into three pieces, one stood still, one jumped to his left and another to the right. Jealous lashed out at the middle Rage, but his blade passed straight through him, the one on his left jabbed with his double spears. Jealous turned to block him, but that Rage vanished as soon as their blades met, while the real Rage struck him from behind with another swinging spear.

Jealous cleared through five trees that time and was stopped halfway through the fifth. Rage was on top of him in an instant. He faded in and out of sight as he came, his speed impossible to gage, dozens of apparitions appearing at the same time. Jealous couldn't even react, he had no idea what he was seeing, what was real, what wasn't. The first four apparitions of Rage passed through him without harming him at all, the fifth drove a pike right through his chest where his heart would be.

Jealous looked down pike passing straight through his chest, it was very real, he knew that much. All he could muster in response to was the word: "How?"

"It's called: Wisdom of Blinding Anger, it's my specialty wisdom, it allows me to decide what aggravated and infuriated people see. You allowed your jealousy to make you angry and that allowed me to confuse you with illusions."

"But my wisdom should have seen through it, Wisdom of the Spider's Eyes allows me to see into your heart and mind. When you decided to make the illusions, I should have known it by reading your mind."

"Mind reading doesn't work on me, Master taught me long ago that thinking about what you're going to do in a fight is a waste of time. If you simply act and react you will have an advantage of speed against your foe. Thoughts slow you down."

"Ah! So there really isn't anything I can do at this point is there?"

"No."

"Did your master want me dead or alive?"

"He wants you alive, I want you dead."

"You aren't going to disobey your master? Are you Rage?"

"Yes I am, you tried to kill my master, and that I can't forgive. Wisdom of the Stampede!" Rage cried out as he returned to his berserk state. Jealous tore through the tree to get off of the pike as Rage's gloves exploded in a storm of spears.

Hundreds of spears grew out of his gloves and rushed towards Jealous, they might have been illusions, but Jealous was not about to stick around and find out. Plus the destruction they were dealing to the forest was real enough. All around him trees fell to the ground as the hundreds of ever expanding spears rushed after Jealous. Jealous was fast, but the damage Rage had done to him was extensive enough without a fresh supply of energy from his master he couldn't move at top speed, so the spears started to catch up. Jealous dodged the fastest of them, but not without taking a few cuts to his sides, and those that got past him soon turned around and hit him from the front. Jealous lunched up into the air above the forest and soon managed to get beyond the range of the wall of spears.

He did not, however, get beyond Rage's range, he was also up in the air, the wall of spears had been separated from his gloves and he now held several pikes in his hand. He spun around and threw three of the spears at Jealous; who dodged two but had to block the third with his sword. Three more pikes came up right after them. Jealous was soon ducking and weaving around the air dodging the hail of javelin fire gradually making his way back towards the mansion. After a long battle he got back within the mansion's grounds, but his luck had run out.

A pike hit him in the lower abdomen, grazing the lowest portion of his soul. The pain was unimaginable. He fought the reflex to pull all his energy back into his soul and repair it, if he lost his ability to fly now he was finished. Dispelling his sword he grabbed the pike with his gloves and pulled it out of his chest. Pain surged through his body, every single sensor and gear of his mechanical form told him that this was a bad idea. With one surge of will and strength he pulled it out and continued to limp towards the mansion. Half way there another spear hit him in the chest, driving him to his knees. He got up, and a third hit him, he could tell that Rage was close enough to strike the death blow, the only thing that kept him from ding that was his own cruel mind.

He calmed himself down, and played dead for a moment. Rage landed and started to walk towards him, spinning his spear casually moving in the personally strike the death blow. Jealous ignored the constant pain in his chest where his soul had been chipped and concentrated all his energy into his flight mechanism. When Rage stood right on top of him, with the pike in hand to kill him, Jealous fired his rockets. Rage stabbed down with the pike as he realized that he prey was not beaten yet, but it was too late. Jealous was in the air and speeding towards the mansion with all the strength he could muster. Rage was right on his tail but that didn't matter. Even though they hadn't taken the oath Jealous could still absorb power from his master and with that power he could heal himself and have another go at Rage.

Skip

"Collect call on line two for you Detective Morris." The police dispatcher called out.

"Hold it for a moment won't you." Morris responded as she looked through the one way mirror into the interrogation room.

"Yes Mam, but they say it's urgent."

"Breaking our last lead is a bit more urgent." Their last lead was the street punk who supposedly took the money from Mr. Hiroko's establishment to Mr. Sanji. He was about 16 years old and had been chosen just for that reason. His answer to the accusations against him was that he needed some extra money so he took up a carrier job. He never looked in the envelope. He picked it up from the girl every Wednesday and took it to a P.O box. The P.O box was registered in his name, but his employers paid for it and gave him a key. He didn't know who his employer was, he had only met once. He described him as a tall man who didn't like questions.

Interrogators pounded him, trying every trick they could think off to get him to spill his guts, but the punk knew they had nothing on him and so he held to his story. He was a street punk and a gangbanger if there ever was one, but he was smart. He wouldn't have been allowed to handle that much money if he wasn't smart and calm. Morris carefully studied him, he had to have a weakness something she could exploit she had to get him to crack. The dispatcher refused to let her concentrate.

"Mam, He says to tell you that it's Rodger from NASA."

"NASA? Why would they be calling? At any rate, I will take it in my office."

As she walked Minami came to intercept her. He said, "You owe me a coffee."

"Oh, Why?"

"Cause I found you another lead to the case all on my own."

"Oh really what did you find out?"

"That the raid on the brothel didn't come down from police command it was ordered by the mayor himself."

"The mayor can't order police raids, all he can do is tell us where they are to raid."

"Yeah well, a lot of money changed hands to facilitate this. He paid out about a 2 million yen, in various different bribes to get the cops to raid the place while off duty."

"Now why would the mayor do that?"

"Boss plans to ask him that as soon as he gets back to town."

"Good work Minami."

In her office, Morris picked up the phone and politely greeted Rodger. Rodger was an old friend of hers from college. He went to NASA she went to the FBI, they kept tabs on each other's careers and still called each other from time to time. She didn't recall ever telling him that she was working in Japan though.

"Well hey there Morris," Rodger said as she picked up the phone in a thick Texas accent. "You know you are one hard little bugger to track down."

"Well I wasn't planning on getting any calls from NASA or else I would've left you my number, what's up?"

"Well the strangest thing happened the other day, one of our spy satellites spotted a strange looking truck. We were wondering what was up with that truck so we looked around and picked up a picture of its license plate. Ran the number through the systems and found that it was one you had placed an APB out on so I thought I would call you up and tell you about it."

"That doesn't make any sense; the only car I was looking for was a lost police car that we found three days ago."

"Did it have its license plate on it?"

"No but the but we found it in a hack shop so they had probably trashed it by then."

"Well then there's your answer, they took of the plate and placed on this here truck that we found."

"Well then, why don't you tell me where it is and I will send somebody around to pick it up."

"I think that might be impossible Detective Morris."

"Why would it be impossible Rodger?"

"Cause the truck's in space."

Skip

Jealous broke through a window to the third floor of the mansion, and then through three of the four walls that separated him from the dinning. In the third room Rage tackled him and knocked him out of the air and through the fourth wall. As soon as the dust settled enough for Rage to strike with some accuracy, he drove and pike through Jealous's chest and literally nailed him to the floor. The settling dust also revealed that Jealous's hopes of being empowered by his master were ill founded. Iruma Tommomitsu was lying on the floor in a fetal positions as a badly bruised and bloody pulp. Shogun was just finishing up their "talk," about the future of the evil Doji club.

"….And until he shows up, I am in charge. So you don't move, think, eat, sleep, act, speak, or so much as defecate with my explicit written permission. And don't think the cops can help you. You have screwed up and now you're going to pay."

"Please!!!" Tomomitsu begged, "Don't kill me! I already said you could take Jealous, just don't kill me."

"You're not going to die, Iruma, finding a replacement master for Jealous wouldn't be worth the trouble. But you are going to wish that you had never been born. And you're going to answer to the bosses for those men you killed. Get him out of my sight." As Shogun finished, three of the men picked up Iruma's body and escorted him from the building. Shogun then turned to another group of men.

"Start dumping the bodies in the forest, burry them deep and strip their IDs. If you have time, break their jaws as well. I am going to take the boys back to the boss and call the Oume construction company to come and start tearing down the place to hide the damage done by Rage. Kill anyone else who tries to enter the compound."

"Yes Sir." The men said.

"I'll help them," Viper volunteered.

"You'll miss a chance to meet with the boss man." Leo told him as he left the room.

"Miss a meeting with the boss! How horrible." Viper said in a sarcastic voice. Viper had met his employer twice in his life was not eager to repeat either experience.

Shogun headed over to where Rage held the fallen body of his foe. Jealous was a badly beaten mess. His limbs were covered in long cuts, and his back had been torn apart by deep gashes and the five places where Rage had impaled him. "I thought I said not to let him back into the mansion."

"Well he wouldn't have, but when I was moving in to strike the final blow he took by surprise and fired his rockets at full blast, I was certain that he was disabled."

"Rage, always assume that your opponent is not only mobile but more than capable of killing you at any moment till you are holding his still beating heart in your hand. And even then, you should still shoot him once or twice to be certain. Never slowly approach your prey in a dramatic fashion to savor the moment when you can simply shoot him from a distance and be done with it."

"Yes Master I will remember that in the future."

"One more thing."

"What Master?" Shogun the punched him the face, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!!" Rage demanded to know, more angry at the fact that he had been struck then at the actual pain.

"I told you not to kill him if possible."

"But I didn't kill him!"

"You were going to."

"Yeah, so what? He tried to kill you earlier. You're my precious thing, I can't let someone try to kill you and get away with it."

"I am also your master, and so my orders take priority over my safety. When one of the bastards in this wide world of ours, succeeds in killing me, you can scream bloody murder and blow up the planet in vengeance. Till then, if I tell you not to kill someone, you don't kill them. In fact you're under orders not to kill anyone unless I order it remember?"

"Yes Master." Rage said in a low voice as he lowered his head and accepted his punishment.

"Good. Now then let's take this bugger back to Mr. Sanji."

"And found the Evil Doji Club?"

"Yes, and found the Evil Doji Club."

End of Chapter 5


	8. Chapter 6: Fussa Fusatarou

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ultimo, all rights go their respective owners, everyone with in the sound of my voice should go out and by the latest issue of Ultimo wherever it is available to support a great story._

Chapter Six: Fussa Fusatarou

Mr. Sanji liked change. Change was necessary to life in this world, no matter how much power one had if they can't adapt to the times they were doomed. He thought most of the world was like the dinosaurs. There were large governments with an incredible amount of power but they were slow to breed and slow to change. They were unchallengeable in terms of power, but an evolutionary disaster waiting to happen. Change was the ally of the Yakuza, new subordinates, new gangs, new amazing ways to acquire large sums of cash; it all kept the police off balance and allowed the Yakuza to move with ever greater ease. This was probably why Mr. Sanji was so open to the idea of creating an Evil Doji Club that would fight a war against the gods and come to rule the world.

It was new, it was unforeseen, and it had the potential to make him an awful lot of money; what more could he ask for from the world? Of course, there was one more thing he could ask for, the one thing that all people with power eventually long for: immortality. Not physical immortality even the most enthusiastic person in the world could see that life would get damn boring after a few hundred years, no matter what they did. He wanted a kind of spiritual immortality, he wanted to be remembered, he wanted to do something that would make his name whispered in hushed tones for the next few centuries. Well, the Evil Doji Club promised that too, if they won the war; and that was a damn big 'if'. But Mr. Sanji wasn't concerned about the war, for two reasons. First he didn't fear the war because win or loosed this was his ticket to immortality, either as the champion hero ushering mankind into a new and glorious age of progress, or as an evil villain dying climatically in the great battle that made the present possible. The second reason why he didn't fear the war was because of all the time they had till it started.

Shogun believed that the war wouldn't start for another three years and the other doji wouldn't start showing up for another two years or so. Time was invaluable in a world of change. With enough time, Shogun could make Rage into a killing machine, Dynamo could plan out the assassinations of each members of the Zen Doji club while tracking their members; and Mr. Sanji could go about the business of ruling his criminal empire in peace. Peace was a difficult thing to find, however, when the police were fiercely determined to find and arrest his number one hit-man and accidentally awaken the wrath of Rage.

"I am sorry boss, I really don't know how this happened," Dynamo apologized for the seventh time since seeing the pictures spread out over the desk.

"No boss this is my fault," Shogun said trying to shoulder some of the blame, for the sixth time since seeing the pictures, "I should have been more forceful with the police."

"More force with the police wouldn't have done a damn thing," Dynamo said trying to discredit Shogun's apology and thus make his own seem more sincere. "The problem is that a witness slipped through the net, and that can be dealt with."

"How?" Said Mr. Sanji who loved hearing solutions to problems.

"I've got a few men in the police stations; I'll ask around find their witness and help improve her memory for the police, lobotomy style."

"A fine plan but that doesn't deal with the fact that the photos are already out." Mr. Sanji said motioning to the three photo's on the table of Shogun, Viper, and Leo. They were police sketches so they weren't totally accurate, in fact Viper could probably sit outside of a police station smoking pot and he wouldn't get caught, Leo would have to grow a beard, but he could pass too. Shogun was the problem; his size naturally drew eyes to him so the hooker had gotten the best look at him. His sketch was a perfect likeness of him, the moment he walked past a cop he would become a walking liability, an arrest waiting to happen.

"I could skip town," Shogun volunteered, "head up to my sister's estate in the lowlands. Keep my head down for a year or so, cops get board, stop looking, and stop caring. Then I could come back and get back to work. Besides I could use the time to train Rage in secrecy."

"They would come after you." Dynamo said, "As soon as these pictures get around low level gangsters and the lieutenants will panic and sell you out. Police will start looking for you and your sister will be the first search warrant."

"What if we just killed all the cops?" Rage volunteered from the back of the room with absolute seriousness,

"A fine back up plan Rage, but a bit too conspicuous for Yakuza to use," Shogun said, rejecting the idea in a way that satisfied Rage.

Mr. Sanji then snapped his fingers, "The Faux chase! That's what we will do: the old Faux Chase."

"The Faux chase, what is that?" Shogun asked in a confused voice.

"The cops want someone to chase, we will give them someone to chase, someone that they can never catch but chase all they want. These photos are all the leads they have left, once we've broken these the case will die, Shogun will be able to go into hiding, and this whole thing will be behind us."

"Yeah, yeah, the Faux chase, that could work. I'll get the American branch on the phone. What was the name of that old devil, Fussa Fusatarou?"

"You mean that old fake name I used to infiltrate the music industry and blackmail hundred of the world's top producers into buying 'insurance?'" Shogun asked, "What could we do with that name?"

"First we need to get him to Honolulu," Mr. Sanji said to Dynamo totally ignoring Shogun.

"There is a cargo ship leaving tonight," Dynamo responded, "we could have him there within a week. I will contact the American boys, get them to work."

"Wait, Honolulu, cargo ship, what the bloody hell are you two talking about?"

"You're going to face up to these charges Shogun," Mr. Sanji explained "and you're going to do from the untouchable identity of Fussa Fusatarou."

Skip

Detective Morris was standing outside of the Tokyo international airport waiting for her latest lead to come through. In the last few days she had gotten more leads then she could imagine, almost all of them were things like: 'I saw you're guy in the subway about two weeks ago,' or 'I think my fifty year old husband might be your killer,' she had only come to check up on this one because the security guard a picture to her of the bastard. The only difference was his hair, aside from that the man was the spitting image of her missing Big Man.

_Fussa, Fusatarou,_ She thought to herself as she waited for him to leave the airport. _I wonder what kind of bastard you are. _Apparently he was the sort of bastard who liked an entourage. Fusatarou came out of the airport flanked by about ten different people, some of whom looked tough enough to be a security detail, but most were just floozy young women and a few secretaries.

"Fussa Fusatarou?" The detective called out as she flashed her badge and approached the group which stooped at the sight of the fuzz.

"Yes, baby that's my names, what can I do for the boys in blue?"

"Is this your picture?" She asked as she held up the photograph taken by the security officer.

"Looks enough like it love, what of it?" He said hold an overly cheesy smile for just a few moments to long, like he was trying to look innocent.

"Where were you on Sunday night two weeks ago?"

"Ah, oh god, hold on a moment," He said as he rolled his eyes back like that was such a long time ago and he needed time to remember. "Right, right, I remember, I was in New York in a meeting with board of directors of SIN records, working out a deal."

"What business did you have with sin records?"

"I am a music producer little missy, ever heard of Fusatarou records? Several of my stars have gotten pretty big in the old US of A and SIN wanted to put together a group tour between some of my girls and theirs. I went down about three weeks ago to negotiate and seal the deal."

"It took you three weeks to work out a group tour deal?"

"God, I know it took way to long, but SIN has next to no control over their musicians, after striking a deal with SIN I had to persuade each individual band about getting in on the tour which was not easy, I tell you that. Then broad way called me up on copyright issues with some of me musician's song lyrics. Then they called again to see if they could make a play about the life of the artist they accused of fraud, and then of course the airports were a nightmare! Had to change airliners in Honolulu, god was that ever confusing."

"No way you were in New York for the last three weeks," Detective Morris said to herself in English.

"Beg to differ miss," Fusatarou responded in perfect English with a New Yorker accent to match. "Passport!" he ordered to the entourage behind him in Japanese. One man immediately handed him a passport he gave it over to the detective and sure enough, it was marked for the proper days in question.

Detective Morris looked over it quickly and then returned to Fusatarou. "Alright that's all for now, you are free to go."

After handing his passport back to the man behind him, Fusatarou bowed slightly and walked off. Minami and Morris watched him slowly leave. About half way to the limo, Morris noticed something was a little off about one member the entourage, mainly, he was rather little.

"Hey Fusatarou, what's with the kid?"

"Ah, you must be referring to my little protégé here, my latest discovery if you will. This is Rage (Pronounced, Ra-Jay) He is my adopted son from America. My niece discovered him while traveling the United States doing charity shows at several orphanages; she called me up one night to say she had found a kid with the greatest pair of pipes she had ever heard. I went down to investigate and simply fell in love with the boy so after a bit of legal battle, I adopted him and picked him on the trip." He then added in English, "Say high, Rage."

Rage responded in perfect English, "Hello Miss Policewoman," he then added in poor Japanese, "Pleased to meet you."

"Very good Rage," Fusatarou encouraged him, "Is that all detective?"

"Yes that it, you're free to go."

After he had left she turned to Minami, "I don't like him, and I don't trust him."

"I will go over every detail of his story with a fine toothed comb, and over his kid's story as well. What about the Russians, have they found anything about our space van?"

"They just brought it in to the international space station, but without a professional crime scene investigation team, there's not a lot of hope of finding out anything useful."

"I don't suppose we could just fly one up there?"

"No we can't we have to be satisfied with the Russians bringing it down for us. They will be calling us later tonight to provide us with some basic information. Have a report ready by then on Fusatarou."

"Right boss."

"And get a tail on Fusatarou, I don't want him skipping town on me."

Skip

"Yes sir, the arrival at the airport went rather well…."

"Yes sir they're taking the bait. Three hits on my story so far, and at least two guys trailing me…."

"No sir, not yet, hit me in about three days I will be under full observation by then…."

"Rage played his part perfectly…."

"Actually it was really easy to teach him English sir, I gave him an English to Japanese dictionary and a basic English grammar book, took him about half the trip to master the language…."

"Well sir, the short answer is that he's a machine and simply doesn't know how to do anything in an imperfect way…."

"It's only frightening if you forget that he's on our side sir…."

"Thank you sir, but I have to run, my tails finally caught up."

Skip

"Greetings comrades of the Japanese police force from the international space station. You put use through quite a hoop to get that space truck of yours." The Russian astronaut said across the video conference.

"We appreciate your assistance comrade," Morris thanked him.

"Anything we can do to put sleazebag, cop killer in jail is good for us. I only wish I could give you a more detailed report."

"Any details would do us a world of good right now. "

"Right then, Van had three cops in it, all dead all killed by gunshot wounds likely from AK47 rifle but that is only speculation. Doors to the van were open, so bodies could have floated out, but we saw nothing else around the van. There is blood splatter on the driver seat, and bloody palm print on steering wheel. There also small bloody sandal prints in back of truck, like a small child or midget was standing there. There is no license, or registration in van of any kind. Even glove box is empty. Here is strange thing though, top of van was very, very badly burned and has high levels of radiation on it. It's like someone carried the van into space, or strapped to side of shuttle rather than putting it inside of the shuttle. Is very strange, Comrades, not an efficient way to transport the truck at all."

"Do you all have a plan to get the truck back to earth?"

"Da, in three weeks, scheduled supply ship will make a trip to space station; we take on supplies truck comes back to earth, and into waiting hands of professional CSI team."

"Any chance of it getting back before then?"

"No comrade, supply ship is only rocket with large enough cargo space for van, and it is in repair dock right now. Three weeks, are the minimal amount of time to get it back into space. We will call as soon as it is ready. Till then we are keeping the Van in portion of the space station that is still being constructed. There it will be shielded from harmful radiation but also preserved by vacuum of space."

"Thank you very much comrade."

"It's been a pleasure detective. Station out."

"Talk to me." Detective Morris said to the investigation team around her.

"No hits on any of the suspects besides the big man and all of those are dead ends. Fusatarou was our closest match and he has a legally solid alibi."

"Legally solid?" Morris asked.

"Yes Legally solid," Minami said taking over the report. "All his papers are in order with no sign of tampering or manipulation. He has all the right witnesses in all the right places. What he doesn't have is photographic evidence. Not one newspaper references his arrival or his deals. Not one security camera has a clear view of him. Not one photograph of him in the whole of the internet and you saw the man, he's a sucker for attention and is making some big deals out there in the music world, but not one mention of him."

"Will his alibi stand in court?"

"It will unless you have one hell of a big piece of evidence directly connecting him to the crime scene."

"Do we have that evidence?"

"Nope."

"What about the kid."

"Same deal, legally solid but physically questionable. Orphaned seven years ago in a fire, sent to a orphanage in New Jersey, all his legal ducks in a row and a couple of testimonials about him. Two weird things about him though. First his orphanage specialized in teaching its kids self defense techniques. From the moment he arrived he was taught, ninjutsu, karate, Thai kick boxing, Judo and knife fighting. Four more years there and they would have taught him how to shoot a rifle, shotgun and pistol. Not surprisingly: the graduates of the orphanage have a fifty two percent chance of being recruited into the mob or the army. The second weird thing is that there are no photo's of the kid. There are photos of every other kid in the orphanage past or present but none of him."

"Alright, all eyes are on Fusatarou now. I want him under twenty four hour surveillance, if he is our boy he will make his move soon enough."

Skip

A week passed without much event. Fusatarou did next to nothing besides manage a record company and raise a young boy. No matter where he went, no matter what opportunity he walked by he committed no crimes and left no evidence that he was even capable of committing crimes. He did nothing to betray his story or alibi. He made no strange phone calls and had nothing but pleasant business oriented conversations.

He was making a lot of the detectives nervous and impatient. The brass was getting shaky to. They were tired of dragging this out; they needed someone to blame the attacks on now. Eventually Morris received an ultimatum from the Mayor. She had three days to either make an arrest, blame a terrorist group or get out of Japan. So she had to come up with a plan. If she brought Fusatarou in he would walk in minutes, she need more evidence. She needed him to either cut a deal or do something stupid. So she decided to set a trap for him.

That Sunday night, with two days left to make her arrest Morris made her way over to the Fussa residence. Fussa lived outside of the city in a three story house on an acre of property. According to the police reports, Fussa had several day servants who went home at about seven o'clock or so. By this time at night the only people home would be Fussa and his adopted son Rage.

She knocked on the door and was soon greeted by none other the boy himself. He seemed happy to meet her again, or perhaps he was just happy to have someone to speak to in English. She told him that she had some question to ask his father and he took her right up to Fusatarou's main office where his was sitting behind a large glass desk. He looked up as she entered and rose to warmly greet her and ask her to take a seat. The conversation was warm enough for a while then Fusatarou had Rage leave the room. The moment the door closed and he left, Fusatarou got straight down to business.

"What do you want with me Detective? I answered all your questions for you." Fusatarou started.

"I am not here to ask you any questions Fusatarou, I am here to give you a word of advice." The Detective said,

"And what advice do you have for me?"

"Enjoy your last few days of freedom."

"Pardon me, but what are you talking about?"

"I just wanted you to know that you were very good. One of the best criminals I have ever faced, you left little no evidence behind you wherever you went but even you aren't perfect. In a few days, I will have all the evidence I need to put you away."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Police bombing, Fusatarou, the police bombing you committed to cover for your friends gunned down in the brothel." The detective said as she started on her victory rant. "You must remember, you killed forty seven good men in about four minutes, in order to send me on a wild goose chase. You left behind no evidence and blinded an entire nation with rage. I bet you think you're so tough taking down all those cops, to bad you're a coward at heart. You didn't fight out of bravery you were trying to cover your ass by making a bigger problem to cover up the one you couldn't hide. You would've gotten away with it, if I hadn't shown up and went down to the brothel hit. You're getting life for this Fusatarou; you're going away for a damn long time, till you rot away and die, forgotten and ignored by the world at large."

"Alright, I will rephrase my original question: What the hell are you talking about? Police bombing? I thought you all were investigating me for using some godless brothel. What's with this sudden accusation?"

"It's an accusation that been building up for a long time. Three weeks ago today you and two other men were sent by your employer to shake down a brothel. But the hit went bad when the cops showed up and the crap hit the fan. You panicked, shot down fourteen cops at the cost of your two buddies. You knew you couldn't silence all the hookers before the cops cracked down on you so you needed a distraction something that would turn their attention away from you. So you gunned down and blew up a police station, no witnesses no evidence. An unsolvable crime to cover up one you couldn't begin to save yourself from. Sixty three men are dead because of you and your crimes and you're going to burn for it."

"You seem to forget that I was on another continent at that time, detective. How could I have killed all those cops from America? Come back when you have some serious question for me and not wild fancies about me being some rouge gunman."

"Oh no Fusatarou, you're not a rouge gunman, a rouge gunman couldn't have faked all of those passports and witnesses. You're a Yakuza, a high ranking lieutenant of the so called Mr. Sanji, who covered your ass by faking all of your papers. He had one of his boys fly out to Honolulu and switch places with you, so that plenty of witnessed can say, 'yes Fussa Fusatarou was on this flight, passed through this gate, had launch with me,' etcetera, etcetera. You don't have one shred of photographic evidence of your flight and in a modern airport that is very strange but not as strange as the way I am going to get you."

"Oh, and what grand piece of evidence do you have to blow away my passports?"

"I have your van. The police van that you used to enter and exit the police station, I bet though that no one would ever find it in space, but underestimated me. All SAT van, past and present are accounted for, which means that the one you used to enter and exit the crime scene was specially made for you. And special orders like that have serial numbers stamped to the inside of the car frame. That serial number will give me a manufacturer, who will give me a distributor, who will give me your name. It's your van that hit the crime scene, with your bloody finger prints on it. And as soon as the Russians get it back to earth I will have all the evidence I need to drag you to a cell for the rest of your life. And you know what the best part about this is?"

"What?" Fusatarou asked after hearing the entire accusation without batting an eye.

"You can't do a damn thing about it. You and I and a judge I told are the only ones who know this. So if anything happens to my evidence before it gets here is one of our heads. Your career as a Yakuza will be over. You will be kept under constant surveillance for the rest of your life. If you do anything for your boss it will end disastrously. So Fusatarou, let me lay out your options for you. You can cut a deal, throw your partners or your boss to the fire and be done with it, you can go quietly waiting for the evidence to take you down or you can go down fighting and wait for your boss to kill off a liability. Your choice, but either way it's over for you so enjoy the last few days of your free life and get ready for jail, cop-killer."

"Wow," Fusatarou said after the monologue was finally done. "I don't know what to be more insulted over. The fact that you would come to my home, look me in the eye and accuse me of being a Yakuza. Or the fact that you apparently think that I am some incompetent Yakuza who's going to flip out over something as small as the case you've got against me. If you've got a case against me then build it up and take me to court, cops don't accuse suspects to their face unless they know that they don't really have a case and they need the suspect to spill his guts."

"Maybe I just want to watch squirm."

"It'll take more than that to make a Yakuza of this caliber squirm. Assume for a moment that I am some super criminal who can kill fifty men in what did you say five minutes?"

"Four"

"Right four, and I have the resources to forge a passport, gather dozens of witnesses to support me, and silence and entire brothel, then why would I be afraid of this. All I would have to do once you leave is get a message to my boss and tamper with the evidence at distributor's so that some identity thief victim ends up paying for the equipment so that you're stuck at another dead end. Heck, someone with those kinds of resources could frame you if he wanted to. But that's not the problem here, the problem here is that you're getting desperate so you're trying to trump up evidence to make me panic and confess."

"Find then, fight it if you want to but the next time we meat I will have an arrest warrant in my hand."

"The next time we meet will be the next time you have some phony evidence to try and scare me with. Let me ask you this detective. What are you going to do if it turns that the van was a hack job made from canalized parts from other vans with no manufacturer or distributor? Are you going to lie to court and take me before them on this flimsy stuff?"

"You don't have to worry about false accusation Fusatarou, when I drag you before a court it will because divine justice has finally caught up with you."

"If the gods want me then they can come and take me."

"Don't worry, they will do just that given enough time."

"Wait a moment." Fusatarou suddenly said, his expression changing in a moment from a cocky smile of a man who knows he's in the clear to that of a man who is deeply concerned about something very close to him.

"Something just opened up my front door."

"How can you tell?"

"I have good hearing, and squeaky doors."

"Maybe it was Rage."

"Rage can't go outside without me after seven." Besides Shogun thought to himself, like he would leave me alone with this crazy cop. Outside he strained his improved sense to their limits and deeply thanked Rage for all the improvements he had made. He could hear footsteps on the stairs. Five men, running quickly, something was jingling too, them something went click, and then Shogun panicked.

"Duck!" He yelled out as a man kicked the door to his office with a vengeance. Shogun stood up and flipped his desk over the Detectives head as she jumped down to the floor. A second later the door flew open and automatic machine guns began to sing their deadly songs.

End of Chapter 6.


	9. Chapter 7: The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 7: End of an Era the 'Relative' Calm Before the Storm

"Sir?" Dynamo asked his boss as he entered his office, at about the same time that Detective Morris entered Shogun's.

"What is it Dynamo," Mr. Sanji said recognizing that there was something important on Dynamo's mind.

"I know we need to have him shot at for this to work but are sure it was a good idea to tell the Molotov's that Shogun was in town and defenseless? I mean, those guys hate him almost as much as I do."

"What makes you so certain of that Dynamo?"

"Well you did have Shogun kill several of their dons and a few dozen of their enforcers so they might overreact to the opportunity."

"Why Dynamo, if I didn't know better I would say that you actually sound concerned about Shogun's safety."

"I am not worried about his safety; I am worried about what will happen to the organization if he dies. He is, though I loath to admit it, our best enforcer, if he dies we could lose control of a lot of turf that he personally patrols."

"Shogun isn't in any danger of dying." Mr. Sanji said matter of factly.

"How can you be so certain? They've got fifteen men, with automatic weapons, while Shogun has to protect the police officer and can't reveal his own armaments or use Rage's power. He's in a death trap right now."

"He's been in worse situations before."

"That was ten years ago, men grow old, even Shogun has his limits."

"Dynamo, you're young, you weren't there for the formation wars. You never saw him, even if he has only a tenth of his strength now that he had then he would still be in no trouble."

"Sir you shouldn't listen to all the stories they tell about him in the streets they're sure to be exaggerations. Everyman has limits and the older he gets the closer the come."

"Not Shogun, he will be an old and dying man before age catches up to him to the point that fifteen men can kill him."

"How can you have so much faith in him? He's just one man, worse than that he's just one man who never thinks things through, attacks on impulse, and has more enemies than one man should ever possible have."

"I trust him, because I have seen him in action. One of these days ask the Asurga clan what happened on May 12th during the first day of the formation wars and you will realize what I am talking about."

"What did happen on May 12th? I know I have heard that date before."

"That's the day that Shogun killed over five hundred men by himself. Took him fifteen hours to do it, and not once during the whole thing did he use one of his own weapons. All to get me out of an office building alive, it was a suicide run and he knew it, but he didn't back down. He just smiled and had at it, hours later the body count was unimaginable and I was back at my base safe and sound. That's why I trust him, so trust me: those punks won't last five minutes."

Skip

The bullets shattered against the bullet proof glass that the desk was made out of. Embedding themselves about an inch of the way into the glass before coming to a complete stop. This didn't stop the five men who had just burst through the doorway from shooting though; they were caught up in the adrenalin rush and weren't really paying attention. Detective Morris was paying attention to this though.

"Your desk is made of bullet proof glass!" She observed as she flattened her back against it next to Shogun and drew her police Beretta. "Why the hell is your desk made of bullet proof glass Fusatarou!?"

"I am mildly paranoid!" He yelled back as he ducked down and lighted a cigarette.

"You're paranoid of being attacked by automatic weapons in your home office!?"

"Well it's better than being paranoid of germs or toilet paper, and for the record I am feeling rather justified about that paranoia right now!" He yelled as the enemy's clips ran dry and they were forced to reload.

"I don't suppose your paranoia prepared a way for you to escape from this mess." Detective Morris said in a much quieter voice as she watched the intruders start to fan out in the room.

"Yes, that door right over there is our escape route." Fusatarou said as he smoked his cigarette in peace and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"And how are we supposed to reach it in the midst of the machinegun fire? I don't suppose you have acquired a few firearms?"

"Nope, guns are illegal in Japan. But mace isn't."

"I doubt mace is going to do us a lot of good." Morris said as she noticed that a few of the intruders were just about to flank the bullet proof desk and shoot them behind.

"It will when it's been loaded into the fire sprinklers." Fusatarou said as he casually tossed his cigarette up into the air, and handed what looked like a gas mask to Detective Morris.

A second later the sprinklers exploded in a rush of raining water that had mace and pepper spray mixed into it. Morris pressed the mask to her face and looked down at the floor as she and Shogun made a run for the side door he had referenced earlier. No one shot at them, but several men shot widely up into the air as the mace poured over their faces and made them cry out in pain. Shogun lowered his shoulder and charged the door which held for all of half a second against his full weight. He didn't stop though, but he ran across the room and charged through a second door. Morris was hard on his heels.

In the second room Shogun turned around and stood next to the broken door. He strained his heightened senses and soon detected another man running after them and two more behind him. There was enough of a gap to deal with them. As the first one entered the room Shogun grabbed his gun and lifted it up into the air with his right hand. In the same moment he swung with his left and smacked the guy right in his gut causing to jackknife over Shogun's fist. He then stepped in front of the poor intruder and grabbed his gun and placed his foot on the man's shoulder and kicked him backwards, yanking the gun from his hand.

The man fell backwards into the other room and into the two men following him causing them to pause for half a second. In that time Shogun brought the gun down and sprayed them with bullets from the hip. Fifteen rounds erupted from his stolen M16 and tore through the defenseless attackers sending them to the ground and to their deaths. Detective Morris looked on with wide eyed wonder as Fusa Fusatarou turned from the room and walked past her.

"That was impressive." She said as then entered what looked like Fusatarou's video library room. "Where did you learn to fight?"

"I've done a lot of contracts with American rappers and they can't stand the thought of a music producer who can't defend themselves. So they taught me a thing or two."

Detective Morris had never heard of a rapper who could do anything like that, but she wasn't about to press the issue. The room they had entered was very open, and all of the walls were covered in bookshelves that were loaded up with video cassettes, DVD's and movie reels. Shogun walked over to one of the bookshelves in the back and pulled out a movie reel called AR15.

"They also are convinced that ammo is one of the best gifts they can possibly give to a friend." Shogun said as he popped the movie reel into the M16 and chambered a round.

"Do you have any idea who the people are?" Detective Morris said as she made mental note of where Shogun stashed his ammo.

"None at all." Fusatarou responded.

"Are your sprinklers connected to the local fire department?"

"Yes they are. How long till the police respond?"

"Six, maybe seven minutes, but it will be several more till they have enough forces to clear out these buggers. Do you have a panic room?"

"Yes I do, in the basement, three floors down."

"Well then we had better get going."

Shogun carefully opened the door to the hallway and led the way out, as Detective Morris followed him. Fusatarou's house was fairly simple in its design. Each had floor had two hallways and a central room in a 'H' shape. They emptied out into a stairwell that ran down to the foyer. As they approached the stairway Shogun looked out to check if the cost was clear. There were eight men on the stairs four on the ground floor and four more on the second floor. Two men were on the third floor outside of the office they had come from, soaked in water and pepper spray. _Thirteen total, if you count the three I already killed. That's a strange number to attack anyone with, so there are probably two more. So are they the getaway drivers or were they sent after Rage?_ Shogun thought to himself as he looked over their numbers.

He relayed the number back to his impromptu partner. She shook her head. They could kill the two on the top floor but then the bottom and middle floor would take cover and it would be impossible to get past them. _We need a distraction_, she thought to herself, and for some reason this made her think of Fusatarou's adopted son, Rage.

"What about Rage?" She asked in a quiet voice, "Aren't you worried they might find him."

"Not in the least really, Rage is a smart kid, he's probably already in the panic room."

"COME ON OUT SHOGUN!" One of the gun men suddenly called out from the second floor in rather poor Japanese and a western accent. "IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO TAKE YOUR LUMPS LIKE A MAN!"

"MY NAME ISN'T SHOGUN!" Fusatarou called back making the first mistake that Morris had seen that night. Immediately all of the men were looking up at the third floor and were starting to make their ways up the stairs.

"OH?!" The shouting man called back as most his compatriots made their way up the stairs. "SO WHAT DO YOU GO BY THEN?! THE WESTERN SLAYER?! THE ANTI MAFIA MAN?! YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A DEAL WHEN YOU COULD SHOGUN, CAUSE NOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE FOR WHAT YOU DID!!"

"REALLY?! WELL THEN YOU HAD BETTER COME UP HERE AND KILL ME, AFTER ALL I AM JUST ONE UNARMED MAN!"

"DON'T THINK I AM STUPID SHOGUN, THERE IS NO WAY YOU WOULD LIVE ANYWHERE WITHOUT FILLING THAT PLACE FULL OF WEAPONS! BESIDE WE KNOW THAT COP IS WITH YOU!!"

"OH SO YOU'RE SCARED OF ONE OLD MUSIC PRODUCER AND AN INJURED COP!" By this time Detective Morris had taken cover in a nearby closet on the other side of the hallway entrance. It actually was a decent strategy; it got them off the stairs and walking into an ambush.

"MAYBE I AM," The shouter responded as his men slowly got ready to make their final move. "MAYBE I WILL WAIT UNTIL MY MEN FIND THAT BOY OF YOURS AND USE HIM AS BAIT TO BRING YOU OUT!"

As if on cue a door on the ground floor burst open as the aforementioned boy came riding into the room using one of the mafia men as a surfboard. In his hand was a set of metal hair picks two of which were rather bloody. All of the mafia hit men turned to look at the boy as he burst into the room and in that moment they exposed their necks to his view. Rage didn't waste the opportunity and he immediately threw three hair picks into the jugular veins of three of the men on the stairs. In the same instance, Shogun took advantage of the situation and rounded the corner and caught the four men on the top floor looking dazed and confused as they saw a twelve year old boy kill three of their comrades at once. They carried that dazed and confused look to the grave as the automatic M16 let a dozen bullets fly and took them down.

The remaining three men ducked into a nearby room and slammed the door shut as Rage leapt up the stair. To anyone other than Shogun he would've appeared to be moving with incredible grace and speed as he made it to the second floor just in time to throw three more hair picks into the door as it shut. Shogun, however, could recognize the sight of Rage struggling to slow himself down and appear to at least be conceivably human. Detective Morris was down on the second floor in second and quickly approached the door with the hair picks in it.

"I wouldn't," Rage said in English, "I saw another man in there just before they shut the door; he looked like a hostage pretty badly beaten up to. If you knock down the door they will kill him."

Morris cursed to herself and said, "It's probably, Minami, he was waiting in a car in the driveway till I was done here. They probably grabbed him before coming in here. Damn him."

"It's not over yet, we can still get to him; there is a hidden door on the right side of that room. If you go around to the hallway you will find the door hidden behind a plant stand. You hit them from the right, I will hit them from the center, and we can get your partner out of here alright."

"What is with you, Fusatarou?" Morris demanded, the weirdness of the situation finally caught to her, "They knew you, heck they know you well enough to want to kill you. And what is with your son? He's like a freaking Ninja."

"Is this really the time and place to be asking those questions?"

"Yes it is, either you tell me who you really are or I arrest you here and now and leave Minami to the SAT team that will get called in for this."

"I am a music producer, but I have made some enemies in my time. A few years ago, I hired a group of private detectives to try and hunt down an illegal piracy ring that was stealing our products in America. Turned out to be run by a Mafia family called the Mussolini. They didn't take kindly to how much information I uncovered and turned over to the police. Well when I went to the states I turned loose a few more detectives to make sure the ring was dead and awoke some old demons. They tracked me down and threatened me to my face, and I realized I needed a body guard. I friend of mine knew of this orphanage that taught kids to be ninjas so I swung by and picked up Rage. These guys probably work for my American enemies; that's all I know."

"I think you have the most unique problems of any music producer in the world. But I have heard of a few piracy busts that were based on information provided by a Fusa Fusatarou. Let's deal with this problem and work out what will happen later."

"Agreed. Still think I am a Yakuza?"

"Yes, but for now I will assume that your just incompetent music producer who's in way over his head."

"That works." Fusatarou said as he opened the door to the room where the last three enemies were hiding. They didn't immediately shoot at him, which was a good sign, but they did have their guns pointed straight at their cop hostage.

"Evening Shogun." The man who had been shouting at him earlier said as he entered.

"Do I know you?" Shogun honestly asked, he had never seen the lad before and hated being at a disadvantage in a conversation.

"I wouldn't think so, but you knew my father. Luco Bracy ring any bells?"

"Yeah Luco, I remember him. Big guy with a vulture nose, tried to snipe me down one day, sent him up river for twenty years." Shogun said holding to his story.

"YOU SENT HIM TO THE MORGE!" The boy shouted back, he was angry and was pointing a gun straight at Shogun's head now. Well it looked like the gun was pointing at his head, in reality it was pointing about four inches to the left of his head, at what Rage was letting him think was Shogun's head. Shogun wanted Rage to hide his powers during this operation, but he wasn't taking any chances with his master.

"Geeze I am sorry to hear that, Luco was a good guy, shame to hear he couldn't cut it."

"He would still be alive if weren't for you!" The boy said on the verge of tears, his friends were now also becoming infected with his anger and were falling under Rage's influence.

"And twelve other men would be alive if it weren't for you bringing them here, so I think our sins level out."

"NO!" The boy shouted, "The payment for your sins is just starting!" He started to pull the trigger on his gun when Detective Morris broke through the hidden door and put a bullet in the head of the man to the boy's right.

The boy hesitated as his senses registered a new threat and Shogun fired, putting one bullet in his brain. He then turned to the third man who was standing over Minami, and was still confused about what was happening and shot him to. The bullets shot out of Shogun's gun ripped a whole through the center of the man's chest, tearing through his hear, his pulmonary artery and his spine destroying everything in its path. The body of the man realized it was dead in an instant, but it would take several seconds to bleed out. Angry with the universe for letting him die, the enforcer preformed one last act of vengeance as he fell backwards in pain and he pulled the trigger.

His bullet tore through Minami back leaving a four inch wide gash in his back, before burying itself in his right lung and exiting through his side. Minami fell forward as Morris and Fusatarou rushed over to him. The wound was deep and they didn't have time to wait for the police who were still two minutes out at best. Fusatarou said he knew where a clinic was nearby and Morris agreed to go. Fusatarou picked up Minami's body with little effort while Morris ran out to start her car. A few minutes later they were pulling into a nearby clinic and rushing him to something approaching an emergency room where a family doctor applied all the knowledge he gained over all his years in medical college to stop the bleeding while the ambulance rushed over to pick him up.

While they fought to save Minami's life, Rage calmly walked over the fallen bodies back in Fusatarou's home making sure everyone of them was dead. He also filled Shogun's computer with threatening emails from international accounts that couldn't be traced. He made sure that all evidence at the crime scene pointed towards Shogun's story as being true before he made his way down to the panic room and started to work up a few good tears for the coming police officers.

Skip

Three days later, Morris admitted to her superiors that Fusatarou's entire story checked out after she had thoroughly investigated it. She also admitted that she had no evidence to link him to any of the crimes she was investigating and that all of the nine men he had killed had been in self defense with a stolen weapon. She recommended that Shogun be removed from the city and placed under police protection at his niece's rural home until they could bring the individuals responsible for this to justice. They agreed to officially blame Al-Qaida for the bombing of the police station but the case would remain open and Fusatarou would be kept under constant surveillance.

That surveillance while constant was hardly fool proof. Within a few days, Shogun had bribed his police escorts into spending most of their days at a local bar and to send back reports saying that all was well at Fusatarou's new home. He and Rage had unrestricted access to the mountains and by extension to the whole of Japan. Rage could take him anywhere in the country in a few dozen minutes allowing Shogun to continue working as a hit man for Mr. Sanji while he trained Rage in the ways of war and maintained a perfect alibi of being under police protection at the time of any incident.

Rage learned quickly under Shogun, but most of it was more remembering what he had already learned then actually figuring out anything new. To be certain, Shogun and Rage developed a few new tricks and Rage's anger grew steadily deeper against the world as he grew closer and closer to Shogun. Rage learned how to share Shogun's anger and use it as a catalyst and power source for his own. Within two years of training, Rage had reclaimed his lost power from the end of the war and expanded it even further.

While they worked and trained Dynamo earned Shogun's respect for the first time in his life. Within two months he had tracked down the masters of all seven deadly sins and all six perfections. He also found Vice's master a week later; and had tails on all of them before the end of the quarter. Day after day, new reports on their movements and actions were reported to Dynamo and then forwarded to Shogun. Nothing happened to any of them for the two years that Rage spent in training. After about six months though, Dynamo had lost Shogun's respect, because he couldn't find the two of the most important members of the Zen Doji club.

Shin Ekoda and Yamato could not be found. Ekoda, or Eko-san as he was often called was the most dangerous of all the Zen Doji masters. He was the only one who had ever rivaled Shogun and Rage's power and he was the only one who lived to the final battle beside Yamato himself. As far as Shogun could tell and as far as Rage could preemptively remember; the Doji would awaken in the same order that they died, that was why Jealous was the first to return, but Rage was an exception to this. He was the last of the Seven Deadly Sins to taste defeat, he had fought against Ultimo himself in the last battle; he had been there when Ultimo froze the time of all the Doji and all of their living masters ending the war once and for all. Because Rage had been closest to that blast and was actively fighting it with all his strength so he was the least effected; the only other doji this would apply to were Vice, Ultimo and Regula the Moral: Eko-san's Doji. Of those three, Dynamo could only find one of their masters which meant that Regula and Ultimo could also be out there, right now preparing for the final battle.

That made him worry, but it excited Rage to no end. He hated Ultimo and Regula with a passion that far surpassed any hatred that Shogun had ever seen. And since Rage loved anger, especially his own, he was eager to meet those two and have at them. No matter how powerful they were or would become Rage couldn't wait to try his steal against them. But looking for them was extremely pointless. Ultimo was the student of the bandit king, who specialized in stealth and ambush, he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be. Regula could probably be found will little to no difficulty but Regula had the power to manipulate the memories of those around them, so even if they found him they couldn't do anything about it, since they wouldn't remember finding him. They would have to wait for their foes to reveal themselves. So Rage waited, and trained in the mountains with his master till two years had passed by like falling leaves.

As the second anniversary of Rage's encounter with his master passed, the universe got tired of waiting and things began to happen very quickly. Most of them were unknown to Shogun; Mr. Sanji of even Dynamo, but Rage could feel them in his bones. He became anxious and excited and Shogun could tell that the war was one its way. That made him strangely happy, but it also made him strangely quiet; for some reason Shogun didn't want to risk these events being interrupted, he wanted them to happen.

He got his silent wish, they happened without any disturbance. Far beneath the earth and high above the mountains; two strange tubes were moved. They were moved by an earthquake, their century old seals where snapped as the earth was twisted and turned by the shock waves. At the epicenter of the shockwaves was a sushi shop, where a quite old man met the second most unusual person he had even known. The most unusual person he had ever known was in the kitchen when the earthquake hit chopping up the fish and preparing them for the customers, just like he had been doing for the last two years, but the second most unusual person didn't care about that. All that he cared about was that he still had a year to stop 'it' from happening; little did he know that by coming back he had caused 'it' to happen. But it would take another year for 'it' to happen and till then there was a lot of fighting to be done and Rage and Shogun were ready to do it.

End of Chapter 7,

End of Part 2

_NOTE: Thus ends the first half of the story which focused exclusively on Shogun and Rage. The next half will be about all the other Doji getting swept up into the Hundred Machine Funeral but that might be a different story. Still there are at least two more updates for the Tail of Rage: Chapter 8, which for no properly explored or explained reason will be a musical, and the final part of the prologue, which is may be more of an epilogue by that point. Hope you all have enjoyed it thus far and will enjoy the rest of it. Please Read and Review._


	10. Chapter 8:Song of Battle, Dawn of War

_Note: I do not own Ultimo or any of the character used herein. All rights go to their respective owners. I also don't own Johnny I hardly knew Ya. It is an old Irish anti war tune, the version that I had in mind for the scene is the property of the band The Dropkick Murphies and everyone within sight of these words should go to Itunes or Limewire or whatever system you use to acquire music and buy that song. You all should also go out and buy the latest issue of Ultimo while you're at it to._

_Note two: This Chapter will contain a musical scene with:_

_Lyrics on this side __And the corresponding action on this one._

_Understood? This is still experimental and if anyone thinks it is a bad idea or simply can't be done properly please tells me in a review. You all are also free to write a review if you like the story or have problems with anything else. I hope you all enjoy this chapter._

Chapter 8: Songs of Battle at the Dawn of War

Shogun was impatient. He was tired of spending all this time waiting for someone to turn up and start the war. It had been over two years since he and Rage had met and founded the Evil Doji Club by taming Jealous and breaking his master. Since then they had not heard heads or tails of any of the other thirteen doji. Even Jealous had been quiet as his master obsessively tried to rebuild his political career from the death blow that the Yakuza had dealt him as punishment for stepping out of line. Two long years of doing nothing but training, of hiding from the police and doing minimal work for his own employer. Two years of doing almost nothing at all, and he was getting damn board of it.

Of course that time had been well spent and had been desperately needed. Rage was not ready for the war when Shogun first found him and to be honest he wasn't either. Rage was too reckless and impulsive to be of any good in a real battle. He had no control over his own anger, he drew power from the weakest portions of his hatred and attacked to recklessly. If they hadn't had time to train, Rage's power would've been wasted in suicide attack on Ultimo. Shogun also needed that time to train, to raise himself up to the point where he could control and focus Rage's power.

He had truly forgotten just how intoxicating Rage could be when they bounded together body and soul. He had forgotten how impossible it was to control and focus his anger, to keep his power from overwhelming him. Normally controlling anger was one of Shogun's specialties, he had thrived as a Yakuza because he could put his anger down and call it back up when he needed it. But Rages power was of a different kind altogether. Shogun wanted to watch the world burn to be honest, Rage wanted to butcher the whole universe one individual at a time. He didn't just hate the world, or the human race, he hated every single human being, every single animal and even every tree in the forest. He wanted to personally kill each and every one of them as slowly and as painfully as he could, while still committing genocide against the rest of world. It was a truly wondrous and terrifying anger that all but defied his imagination.

The real danger of his anger was how corrosive it was. After a day of training it was hard for Shogun to tell what was his own furry and what he had picked up off his page. It seeped into his mind and poisoned all the other emotions he had as it joined with his own furry and expanded it to an equal level with his own. It was nearly impossible for Shogun to keep from burning the forest to the ground the first time he and Rage used their full power. Yet he had done it, and after two years of training he had learned how to wield Rage as a sword. He could focus and bear Rage's hatred for the world and use it against his opponents and it was a truly terrifying sight to behold. It had taken him two years of training but Rage and Shogun were finally ready for the war, but apparently the war wasn't ready for them.

Two years and nothing had happened and it was driving Shogun mad with anticipation. Still he had to wait, he couldn't move until the Doji began to unite with their masters and until then he had to patiently wait. Rage was also being driven mad by the waiting. He was certain that either Ultimo or Regula were already out in the world, training and getting stronger and that filled him with excitement. He wanted to find them, he wanted to kill them, he wanted to let the fires burn and roar and consume the world. But he had to wait.

The waiting came to an end one Thursday morning in late May. With only one year to go till the Funeral of the Hundred Machines something in the world and in heaven stirred. Something shook the cosmos itself to the core and its effects were felt everywhere in the world. Earthquakes broke out hundreds of miles from a fault line. Every animal began to sheik. Every bird in the world took to the skies and began to fly around in circles. Every fish leaped out of the water, every predator attacked the nearest kind of prey. The most artistic humans in the world had the most terrible nightmares of their lives and the most intelligent humans could not bring themselves to sleep. It would have been the most amazing event in history, but it happened at two in the morning and had little effect outside of Asia so most people didn't notice at all. Shogun noticed it though, mainly because Rage all but ripped the building of the ground when he leapt out of bed that night.

"ULTIMO!!!" Rage screamed as he leapt out of bed and through the ceiling above him, shaking the house and awakening Shogun from a pleasant dreamless sleep.

"WHAT?! WHERE?!" Shogun shouted as he drew a colt magnum and his desert eagle out from under his pillow and swept the room for any sign of his ancient foe.

Rage looked about himself trying to get his bearing, "I don't know, I was just resting next to you and then suddenly his face forced his way into my mind. It must have been a dream." He said.

Shogun reached up and grabbed Rage by the leg as he floated in the middle of the hole in the ceiling and pulled him back down. He looked Rage in the eye and said, "Rage, calm down, remember, you don't dream. The best you can do is watch my dreams happen in your mind, so think carefully about this. Why did you see Ultimo in your mind?"

Rage closed his eyes and stopped shaking for a minute and started to concentrate on what he had seen. As he did so Shogun felt the mark Rage had placed on his right arm begin to burn signaling that Rage was subconsciously asking for Shogun's help. He gladly opened up his mind to do just that. He felt a slight pain as his nerves connected with Rage followed by the familiar warmth of Rage's subconscious mind. Rage showed him the memory of what he had seen in his mind.

He saw Ultimo in all of his splendor and power standing above a tower with a drawn blade. Below him was the shattered body of a demon that had clearly been struck down by the blade. The demon was blurred as if Rage had only seen it in the periphery. _That figures, _Shogun thought to himself. _Rage gets shown a vision like this and he misses half of it because he focused only on his enemy_. Shogun examined the fallen demon as carefully as he could, and he could just barely make out the sight of someone standing in the middle of the fallen corpse looking at Ultimo from below, with burning green eyes. Shogun smiled and looked back over the rest of the scene, especially at the tower and the buildings around it. He recognized the tower within a few seconds and then he backed out of Rage's mind.

Once he did Rage began to speak, "It wasn't a nightmare, and it was a still shot, a single image of what is to come."

"Correct. You're getting much better at interpreting your own memories Rage; do you know who was in the image?"

"Ultimo, he will arise soon and will make his presence known in a dramatic way."

"True but that isn't all, Vice is there as well. They both must have just awakened. They must be heading for their masters."

"I don't think so master, neither Yamato nor K was in that vision. I think that are going to attack each other without their masters."

"You think so?"

"Yes Master, I can feel it, war is about to break out they will clash with each other in just a few days."

"No Rage," Shogun said smiling at how much restraint Rage was showing in his voice right now. A year before this he would have taken off by now to find and attack Ultimo, "They are going to clash tomorrow and we must be ready for them. The first battle of the final war is here and the battlefield is set to be the Farmless Tower in Tokyo."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Rage exclaimed as he grabbed Shogun and prepared to break through the wall to make a mad dash for Tokyo.

"WAIT, WAIT! Rage, I need to put some clothes on first." Shogun screamed trying to keep Rage from destroying more of his Sister's home.

Rage put him down and Shogun made his way over to the dresser and pulled out a shirt and pair of pants that could easily conceal his firearms. _Two years of long work and he still only retains self control for three minutes. Oh well, I suppose that works too. After all, patient planning has never been my style either. _

Skip to: Music time.

Woman:While on the road to sweet Athy Woman and man are walking in Farmless tower looking over the restaurants and flirting with one another as they sing

Man:Huroo hurooo

Woman:While on the road to sweet Athy

Man:Huroo hurooo

Woman:While on the road to sweet Athy

A stick in the hand a drop in the eye

A doleful damsel I did cry Woman screams at sight of demon

Demon:Johnny I hardly knew ya Demon smashes the tower as he speaks

Where are the eyes that were so mild? Demon descends on the people of the streets smashing buildings. Police rush to the scene

Police: Huroo Huroo Demon attacks police destroying helicopter and cars,

Demon: Where are they eyes that were so mild? turns to Woman2 clutching baby,

Woman 2: Huroo Huroo Woman screams as the demon swings at her,

Ultimo: Where are they eyes that were so mild? In Distance Ultimo watches and takes off towards the demon and Woman2

When my poor heart you first beguiled

Dunstan: Why did you run from me and my child? In greater distance Dunstan watches quietly while smiling to himself.

Ultimo: Johnny I hardly knew ya. Ultimo blocks the demon's attack.

Ultimo: We got guns and drums and drums and guns Ultimo forms his arm into a lion and rises up in the air throwing the demon off balance

Police: Huroo, Huroo Police and people look awestruck at Ultimo

We got guns and drums and drums and guns

Ultimo: Huroo, Huroo Ultimo swings and utterly destroys the demon

We got guns and drums and drums and guns

Police: And the enemy never slew ya, Policeman 1 approaches Ultimo

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya.

Policeman1: Where are the legs with which ya run? Policeman 1 questions ultimo

Ghosts: Huroo, Huroo Ghosts of the dead take to the air form second chorus.

Ultimo: Where are the legs with which ya run? Ultimo ignores Policeman 1 and flies over the fallen demon speaking to it.

Police: Huroo, Huroo Police follow him

Ultimo: Where are the legs with which ya run? Ultimo speaks to center of the fallen demon

Vice: When first ya learned to carry a gun? Vice arise smiling at Ultimo

Indeed your dancing days are done. Vice knocks Ultimo back

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya. They greet each other with wide smiles

K: We got guns and drums and drums and guns K departs from Chorus and fires on Vice with his gun

Vice: Huroo Huroo Vice catches bullets

We got guns and drums and drums and guns Vice copies guns and fires back

Police: Huroo Huroo Police panic

Ultimo: We got guns and drums and drums and guns Ultimo blocks the bullets with his hands

and the enemy never slew ya. Vice is Angry, Police terrified,

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya. Ultimo has face of grim determinations

Musical interlude Vice and Ultimo dual in the air

Vice: You haven't an arm you haven't a leg Vice lashes out at Ultimo with Turtle blade

Ghosts: Huroo Huroo Ghost shudder at the force of the blow

Police: You haven't an army you haven't a leg Police cry out as Ultimo's guts are ripped out by a second blow from Vice

Ghosts: Huroo Huroo Ghosts morn

Ultimo: You haven't an arm you haven't a leg Ultimo counter attacks with Crane sword takes Vice's arm off

Vice: You're a spinless boneless chickenless egg. Vice screams as his arm falls anger pouring from his very being

You'll have to be put with a bowl to beg

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya Ultimo and Vice glare at each other

Vice: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Vice forms hand into a drum and points it and Ultimo and the whole town

Huroo Huroo

Police: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Police panic at sight of new terror

Huroo Huroo

Ultimo: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Ultimo contemplates Vice's move and reveals the jets under his kimono.

and the enemy never slew ya. Fires Rockets and flies at Vice

Ultimo and Vice: Johnny I hardly knew ya Vice and Ultimo fly off into heaven.

Shogun: Well I am happy oh, to see ya home Shogun and Rage watch them ascend from a nearby building speaking reverently

Rage: Huroo Huroo

Dunstan: Well I am happy oh, to see ya home Dunstan stares up as he watches his creations ascend

Muziki: Huroo Huroo Muziki speaks sarcastically

Ultimo: I am Happy oh, to see ya home Ultimo whispers to Vice as they leave the Atmosphere

Vice: From the isle of Ceylon Vice presses the drum into Ultimo chest

Ultimo and Vice: Johnny I hardly knew ya They smile and glare at each other

K: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns K approaches Vice's fallen arm and lifts it up the ground

Police: Huroo Huroo The police cry in morning for the dead

Old man: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Old man in the mountains speaks to Ultimo's fallen body

Ghosts: Huroo, Huroo Ghost sing in quiet caring voices

Shogun and Dunstan: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns. Dunstan leaves his roof top as Shogun looks over the destruction with a wide smile

Rage and Muziki: and the enemy never slew ya Rage's eyes are filled with madness, Muziki with disgust

Policeman 1: Well Johnny I hardly knew ya. Policeman 1 scratches his head with his pistol while staring at the ruins of the tower.

End of song People slowly depart from the scene of carnage

Skip

"Damn," Rage said as the people began to disperse out of the disaster area, "That was violent, destructive and artistic, I had expected the first two but the sure beauty of it all took me completely by surprise."

"They're everything you remember and more." Shogun responded, "Ultimo is surely the god of heaven, who personally slew four of the Seven Deadly sins, and Vice is truly the lord of hell, who's power was great enough to challenge a rival with five long years of training under his belt."

"Even without their masters they are damn near unstoppable. We should've struck now, Master while we had the chance."

"Rage if you would just extend your sense, you would see that there was no chance to attack here. Isn't that right, Eko-san?"

"Oh, I am not so sure about that, Nobuhide-dono," A man said as he stepped out of the shadows behind a billboard. He was a very large man, almost as tall as Shogun with a hundred pounds on him easily. He looked like a Sumo wrestler had had a bastard son with a grizzly bear in every respect save that he was smiling like a fool. He wore a kimono and a butcher's apron which reeked of fresh fish. He also wore a chef's hat with his name on it. Behind him there was a small boy with a bald head. He was shorter than Rage but looked to be about the same age. He wore black pants and had large gloves on his hands but they were not nearly as large as Rage's. He was floating a few feet off the ground with his legs crossed Indian styles.

Shin Ekoda continued as Shogun measure him up to his old memories of the Buddhist priest he had once known. "I don't know if I would've attacked you, the last time we fought each other I died and it was a very painful death that I would not want to repeat."

"Too bad," Rage said with a devilish grin as he saw his old rival, Reguala the Moral, "I've longed to feel your guts sliding over my spears again ever since I woke up. The memory of your murder is one of most favorites."

"If you treasure that memory," Regula said in calm voice not even glancing up from his meditative stance, "Or any other for that matter, you should not speak in such a way again Rage the Wrathful."

"Why Regula is that a challenge? I would love to have your mind within reach of mine once again." As Rage finished he drew one his long Yuri pikes from his gloves and took up a fighting stance.

Regula immediately leapt in front of his master and brought his gloves together as if he too planned to draw a weapon. But before he could, Ekoda put his hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. Eko-san then said, "Nobuhide, you really should maintain more control over your doji. You know that this town has suffered enough under the ultimates's furry, there is no need for it to suffer further and yet your doji is clearly trying to provoke mine."

"What makes you so certain that I don't want to see this town burn from such a battle? Or that Rage isn't acting under my orders?"

"I you wanted to fight and kill me, then you wouldn't waste time trying to provoke me into battle, you would simply attack and be done with it. Besides not even you are so heartless as to seek out such rampant destruction."

"Is that an observation, or a desperate plea to my better nature?"

"What do you mean?"

"Shin Ekoda, you have had that Doji for at least two years and there is no way you could not have guessed that I had mine as well. So I ask myself, 'Why hasn't Eko-san sought me out? Surely he knows that if Rage possesses two years of training when the other Doji arise it will lead to horrible battles as I seek to destroy them all. Does he fear me and my power? Or does he fear his own?' I can't find answers to these questions. In the last life you hunted me endlessly yet in this one you have cowered in your sushi shop for the last two years. Why? Why are you shrinking back from the call of justice and your duty to judge my evil deeds?"

"Nobuhide, you must realize that for us to fight is to invite ruin upon the world." Eko-san said as he became deathly serious for a moment. "When you and I and the ultimates fought each other for the final time in the last life, over half of Japan was destroyed. Four doji fought and tens of thousands died, and you can't really say that I fought in that battle, you threw me down in a couple of minutes, most of the fighting was between Vice, Ultimo and you. Can you imagine how much greater the destruction will be in modern Japan? Can you imagine how much greater the destruction will be when fifteen Doji clash instead of only three? The Funeral of a Hundred Machines, the final battle between good and evil will surely destroy the world we can't let that happen."

Shogun remained silent for a moment and thought about this. Then he said, "I agree, the final battle would be a tremendous waste of human life to settle our old scores. Don't worry though; I have a simple plan for preventing it. I have men who are tracking the movement of each of the masters of the Zen Doji and of the Evil Doji. You just go back home and return to your family and I will see to it that Rage attacks and kills each of the Zen Doji before they can take the oath with their masters. I will also unite all of the seven deadly sins, so that when Ultimo returns we can rush him all together and kill him quickly. With him dead there will be no one left to oppose the Evil Doji and we will peacefully remake the world. No climatic final battle, no destruction of the human species. Just a few isolated assassinations and that will take care of everything. What do you say Eko-san? All you have to do ensure the survival of mankind is just sit back and do nothing."

"You can't be serious."

"Deathly so I am afraid. The only way to prevent the final battle is to destroy one side or the other before they can amass enough power or influence to put up any serious resistance."

"Why side with the Evil Doji? You don't honestly think that mankind will survive for long under a sadistic bastard like Vice? Your plan doesn't save humanity it just drags out it suffering."

"Well I am, sure as hell, not going to stand idly by while you kill of the Sins and Vice. It's not like the Zen Doji could do any better. How long do you think it will be before Ultimo blasts Las Vegas and the slums of Tokyo out of existence for their sins? You don't honestly think that mankind can live up to the expectations of the perfections?"

"No I don't, which is why fighting will not solve this. Weather good or evil wins it will lead to the ruin of the earth. So we must ensure that neither good nor evil fight. We must stop the funeral by keeping the Doji from killing each other. Don't you see Shogun? The way of war leads to madness and suffering."

"And how do you intend to keep Ultimo and Vice from ripping each other a new one?"

"We can't but I am certain that you could persuade their masters to hold them back. None of the Doji can dare fight each other without their masters. In the last life we all had issues that drove us to war with one another, but we can all see where they got us, surely even you have sworn off your desire to avenge Osamu. What reason do any of us have to fight one another now?"

"You misjudge me Eko-san, I did not seek Yamato's head for Osamu's sake. I sought to kill him because I despised the world itself with a passion the likes of which you could never imagine. That has not changed. Rage follows me because I honestly want to watch the world burn as much as he does. You will find that all the other sins and their masters are the same way."

"Yet for all your hatred you have not tried to take my head. I can see it in your eyes and I can see it reflected in Rage's you want to kill me quite badly right now, but you haven't because you know how pointless it would be."

"Maybe, or maybe I just want to see how much you have changes since we last fought. Nonetheless you will not find any of the others sins so peaceful and calm. Jealous's master already tried to kill me, I doubt he will hesitate to try and kill you."

"There are other ways to pacify the Doji."

"How?"

"Not 'How?' but who?" Shin Ekoda said as he got to the point of the matter, "Dunstan is the answer, he has manipulated us all since the first war and the grave will not keep him from manipulating us now. If we can capture him and turn his power for our own use we could stop this war at its source."

"Ah, so that's the real plan. Catch the uncatchable, insane Professor Dunstan you certainly have high minded goal don't you."

"He's not uncatchable, together we could take him."

"No," Shogun said as he shook his head, "Not you and me. Rage and Regula could never work together and even if they could they couldn't capture Dunstan. To capture him you would need Rage, Desiru, Service, Ultimo and Vice working together. Ultimo would be the key. Without him any plan would be damned to failure."

"So you have given thought to it?"

"Of course. One doesn't spend two years with a Doji chopping up raw fish; I have thought about everyone of the possible battles facing Rage including the chance that we face Dunstan."

"Can it be done?"

"Possibly. It all would depend Ultimo and Yamato. They would need the Wisdom of the Gods and the Wisdom of the Traveler to get the job done and they would need three counters and Vice to support them. Not to mention you would have to track down Dunstan, a feat that I openly doubt can be done."

"But if he was, and if Ultimo and Yamato were prepared for it; then you would join us and help to take Dunstan down and prevent the war?"

Shogun looked over at Rage who had remained silent and in a fighting stance the whole conversation, focusing solely on Regula. Rage turned one eye off of his rival and looked up and Shogun. The look said it all, and Shogun smiled.

"Deal." He calmly replied. Regula dropped his guard and Rage lowered his pike to the ground. Ekoda smiled and approached Shogun with his hand outstretched. Shogun walked up to him and took his hand in his and shook it. In the same instant he drew his Magnum Revolver out his suit pulled back the hammer and pressed the gun up against Eko-san's head.

"But I am warning you," Shogun said as Regula panicked and Rage rushed into place right between Regula and his master, with two pikes in his hands. "I don't think that it can be done, but I will prevent the Funeral from occurring. So until you bring Ultimo and Yamato to me when they're ready for war and to face Dunstan, I am your enemy. I will hunt down and kill each one of the perfections as well as Ultimo, if you try and save them I will kill you. And if we both fail and the perfections and the sins are gathered and readied for the final battle, then I will find you on that battlefield and I will cut you open and I will kill you. Got that?"

"Understood." Eko-san said calmly enough.

"Good," Shogun said with a smile as he pulled the trigger on the Magnum. The hammer fell and Regula panicked and tried to rush past Rage who calmly sliced his side open with one fluid swing of his right pike. The hammer hit the chamber and went click. After that Shogun pulled the gun away from Eko-san head and opened up the chamber to the magnum reveal that there was no bullet in the space where the hammer fell, and in fact two other spaces were empty with only three bullets in the gun.

Shogun smiled and walked away from Ekoda and said, "You're a very lucky man Eko-san, to bad Regula isn't blessed in the same way."

"You're a cruel man Oda Nobuhide." Ekoda said as he picked up the injured Regula who immediately began to self repair once in Eko-san's hands.

"This time around I am not named Nobuhide. It's Fusatarou. Fussa Fusatrou and don't you forget it. Next time we meet Eko-san your luck will have run out."

"We shall see, Fusatarou."

End of Chapter 8


	11. Epilogue: Dreams of the Forgotten War

_Note 1: I do not own Ultimo or any of the characters contained therein. All rights go to their respective owners and I still think that anyone who has read and enjoyed this fanfiction should go out and buy the latest issue of Ultimo. _

_Note 2: This final chapter will mark the end of the Tail of Rage, I intend to continue writing Ultimo fanfiction and will pick up the story of Rage and Fusatarou later after writing another story which will tie into that one. I hope everyone who has read this story has enjoyed it and I hope that someone will review it now that it is completed. _

Prologue part 3/Epilogue: Dreams of a Forgotten War at the Coming of the Secret War.

Farmless tower burned into the night silently defying the world to forget this attack. Yet it was too late, Regula's power had been set to work and within a few days the Farmless Tower incident would be forgotten, mislabeled as a terrorist attack, remembered only in the terrible nightmares of its more inconsequential survivors. The burning tower formed the first true torch seen in Tokyo since the Great War. Its light and heat could be felt for miles around. It excited Shogun to no end.

The tower was an omen. A terrible one at that to, and Shogun could read it like an expert medium. This was just the first battle, the precursor to the war, the overture to the coming matinee and it was in truth the last true calm before the storm. Regula had come out of hiding, the ultimates had shaken the world with their presence. Rage had felt the coming of both events, and all the other Doji were sure to as well. The High Priests had risen from their sunken domains and the old ones were rising once more. The end of days was coming; the Funeral would soon be here. Like any true soldier Shogun was anxious and worried, but like any true madman he could barely wait.

Rage was oddly calm about all of this, which in truth scared the heck out of Shogun. The encounter had drained him it seemed of all his anxiety. All his worry and all his cares and concerns no longer bothered him. His enemy was in front of him and he couldn't wait for the fight. Yet he could not rush it and he had accepted that. So Rage was calm and controlled. The hours slowly ticked by as the people of the city rushed about trying to stop the burning in the tower, but those fires could not be quenched. The flames entranced Shogun and Rage, they spent the longest time simply staring at them. After the sun had set they retired to their rooms, stripped and went to bed.

The memory of the fires followed Shogun to his bed. Inside of his mind the image of them danced up and down hundreds of memories alongside of a thousand other sights and feelings long since forgotten. He paid most of them no mind at all, as he drifted through and came closer and closer to the dreamless sleep he desired he felt and familiar presence drift through his mind. Rage had joined him without Shogun even realizing it, but he didn't mind. The thought of driving Rage away from his mind was unthinkable. Instead he welcomed the presence of this servant and gave him free range of his soul as he drifted off into sleep. As he sunk down into the deepest portions of his subconscious mind, Rage sent him one final parting gift. A dream they could both enjoy. A dream of the coming war, stolen from the forgotten one. A preview as it were for the days to come. Shogun knew what it was and he knew where it went and what it was from, nonetheless he welcomed that dream and all that it carried. The dream of the final battles. The dream of the final days that he and Rage spent in endless war against heaven itself. With that dream in mind, Shogun was lost to his sleep.

Skip

In the grand old city of Tokyo, Shogun master of Rage slept dreaming. In the far younger city of Edo and thousand years earlier a fire raged with uncontrollable passion and power. Fires in the city were lethal since the houses of the city were made of paper and wood the burned quickly. This one was no exception to that rule but there were plenty of other strange things about that fire that quickly stole one's attention.

A typical fire moves like a phalanx. A wall of fire driven up and down the city by the wind advancing in a damn near straight line across the rows of housed. Lesser fires expanded outward from that central flame as an afterthought, like the wake to a great burning ship slipping across an ocean of roofs. This fire was different. It had exploded out a central point, forming a crop circle of flame in the center of the city. Out of that circle two long whips of flame crashed their way through all of the nearby houses, sending them all one by one up in fire. Seen from above they looked like two great tentacles of some flaming octopus reaching out through the city. They raced and roared around the city, tracing out line of fire in the ruined houses they left in their wake. They only set a house or two up in flames at a time but they extended very quickly. It was as if two flaming spirits were racing across the houses of the city setting down up a building only for an instant to plant the seeds of a roaring flame with their feet. It was truth be told, beautiful to look at, but horrible to hear.

The flames were not spread by spirits lightly stepping on the roofs of the building but by two great balls of flame crashing through the rooms dragging a great wall of fire in their wake. The people died quickly, but as the flames devoured their bodies they screamed aloud with terrible cries. Not everyone died of the flame though, one of the flaming tentacles died out shortly after leaving the central flame. The destruction that ball caused did not stop, death still spread wherever it went, now people died of broken and shattered organs as a wall of force and unseen blades shattered the houses and left countless corpses in its wake. The victims of the fireball died faster, but which ball caused more suffering and destruction could not be said.

Oblivious to the destruction and pain they were causing the two blurs of death continued to race up and down the city, across streets and through any buildings that stood in their way. For several minutes they rushed about till at last out of pure coincidence the two crashed into each other. As the shockwave and the flames carried in the wake of each blur collided there was a huge explosion. The fire devoured the air wave and road it out into all of the nearby buildings setting them all alight in fire. As the shockwave expanded outward a vacuum was created and wind rushed back in towards the center, where it was heated by the flames and rose into the sky. The effect of the wind pouring into the fire made the flames dance about one another twisting in the currents like a tornado of fire was about to form on the ground and lift up into the sky. The fires in the center of the explosion died out and revealed four individuals standing with their backs to one another unharmed by the flames.

There were two old men; one was the size of a sumo wrestler with a beard that was just starting to turn white. The other was a much older man with a wrinkled face and heavy eyes. He had his fists up in a fighting stance and an old plate of battered armor resting on his chest. The other two looked like children. One was a short boy with a bald head and pink bowels over his eyes. He had a large pair of gloves on his hands and was holding a quarter staff in a defensive stance. He was covered in scares and cuts but was not burned. There was also a girl with short hair and a pair of large pink sunglasses. She wore a pair of boxing gloves which she also held in a fighting stance next to the old man.

"Bloody Hell Fire!" The Sumo wrestler exclaimed as he stared at the ring of fire around them.

"Not the expression I want to hear right not Eko-san." The old man replied.

"Well which one would you use Oizume? How about, 'our goose is cooked'?" The large man replied.

"We are not into the fire quite yet my old friend." The old man said sarcastically

"Well were certainly out of the frying pan."

"Will you two quit it with the bad jokes already? We kinda have a situation here." The little bald boy interrupted them.

"Regula if you can't learn to laugh at yourself every now and then you will never get through life sane." Eko-san said chastising his apprentice.

"Given the choice I would prefer to get through life alive rather than sane. And getting through this alive requires focus." The boy responded,

"Not quite yet though, they aren't attacking us which means their Demigod mode must have run out of time as well. We have time to catch our breath as I see no reason not to laugh while we do it." Eko-san observed.

"Well I for one wish they would just attack already instead of making us wait like this for them to move; maybe we should attack and get it over with." The girl said as she spoke up for the first time.

"No need to rush into this Service, normally I would suggest we use this time to escape but that isn't an option this time, so we have to think carefully about what to do next and pay attention." Oizume said to the girl.

"Come one old man, now is not the time to be talking of escape, we can take that bitch here and now, I know we can." She responded all but leaping away from Regula's back.

"Don't underestimate her, that's what got Slow killed. I will not see you go the same way. Ah looks like you won't have to wait either way Service here they come."

Four figures calmly walked out of the wall of flame and approached their opponents. They came from opposite direction two on one side and two on the other. In front of Oizume and Service there stood two women. One was dressed in all black clothes with a short sword drawn and her face covered. The other looked to be about the same age as Service and wore a tank top and the lower half of a Kimono along with a large pair of gloves that only had four fingers on them. On her head there were a pair of long glass tubes resting just in front of her ears which made her look a bit like a rabbit. Save that most rabbits didn't carry three foot long meet cleavers in either hand. In front of Regula and Eko-san there stood two men, both were heavily armored like a pair of samurai with masks over their faces. One was taller than the other but saying that was like saying that Cthulhu is taller than Godzilla, both men were giants. One stood six foot four and held a long Katana that seemed to be on fire; his other hand had a very long hook coming out of it and seemed to be much larger than his other arm. The other man was easily nine feet tall and held a pair of Yuri Pikes, his armor appeared to be on fire and his mask was all but totally blank. There were no marks of any kind of his armor and while there was a standard on his back there was no insignia to it, he could have been the soldier of any army anywhere in the world.

"God's damn it," Eko-san said to himself but loud enough that anyone could have easily herd him. "He's been in Demigod mode this whole time."

"He is the master of it Eko-san what did you expect? That he would lose it after a few minutes like he did when he first came down from the mountains? Only Yamato can really challenge him in that form." Oizume said without taking his eyes off of the girl in front of him, he knew better than to do that.

"Speaking of which, where is Yamato? He should be here by now." Eko-san asked

"He's probably lost. Rage put one hell of a spell on him before they left, I doubt even Yamato will be able to get here quickly." Oizume responded and sighed to himself

"How can someone who can manipulate time and space show up late because he got lost?" Regula asked to relieve the tension.

"They can't but unfortunately for us, and for our enemies, Yamato can do the impossible. He can beat Vice and Rage and he can get lost in the forest he grew up in." Service responded.

"Lucky you!" The girl in black called out. They knew she could hear her; nothing escaped that woman's attention.

"Wrong pronoun my dear, you should say 'Lucky Me' since if Yamato was here this battle wouldn't last long at all." Oizume said because he knew that correcting her in any way made her mad. But she just smiled back at him and quietly responded.

"All that Yamato's presence would mean is that Rage would be a little more excited than he is right now, right Rage?" She said speaking to the nine foot tall demon standing opposite her.

The beast called Rage responded with a terrible roar. A cry low in pitch a loud in sound with a terrible ferocity behind it, like a thousand soldiers, a thousand beasts and a thousand monsters from the deepest portions of a man's fears had cried out in unison. It echoed across space silencing the roar of the fires and the screams of the dying masses trapped within them. It sounded across time to the earliest primordial man, and to his most advanced descendent causing the very soul of humanity to shudder as it delivered its message. Death had come, and it was pissed. The other man besides him made no such cry or made any sound at all. While the world shook in terror of the first cry he lowered his blade and his shoulder and charged the group, fire slowly following him as he ran.

Across the field the rabbit girl with her long glass ears smiled and swooned at the sound of the cry. She said, "Isn't Rage so dreamy when he's like that?"

"This is a battlefield Desiru act like it and keep your heart in check." The Black woman said in response.

"Yes Mistress Miyoshi, I will focus on the task at hand, but tonight, Rage is all mine!" she said with a squeal as she brought the meat cleaver down on her mistress's outstretched arm slicing it off. Before the arm could fall to the ground she sliced off one of her own arms and attached it to the bleeding wound and scooped up the fallen arm and replaced her own limb with it. Immediately Desiru's arm sent out dozens of tendrils and long metal cables which climbed over and into Miyoshi's body turning black as they went to match her dress. From the tendrils long black plates of armor reached out and connected to the other tendrils. The process only took an instant and soon Miyoshi was covered in a full suite of black armor. At the same time long tendrils and metal wires and cables reached out of Desiru's side and grabbed the Miyoshi's severed arm and began to pull it inside of Desiru. A look of ecstasy poured over her face as she began to grow in size and change in shape. She wore no armor, and in fact, she wore less clothing than before. A piece black cloth barely managed to cover her chest and pelvis with a fishnet running in between them. He skin turned tan and her cheeks became flushed with passion. Around her neck ran a spiked collar and in addition to her meat clever she now had a long whip.

In an instant they were in the air and rushing at the four defenders with wild passion in their eyes. But their opponents were half through their own transformation and would soon meet them in battle. Eko-san was wearing golden armor that made him look like an angry Buddha and had no weapons, and Oizume wore brown armor that looked like it was made of wood. In place of a helmet he wore the straw hat of a common worker and carried a comma and chain. Regula had transformed into a large warrior wearing white armor carrying a great axe with a mop attached to the other end. Service looked strangest of all, she looked like a mirror image of Desiru only she was gagged and carried no weapons but a pair of chain attached to her wrists like she was awaiting domination.

Regula swung at the swordsman as he approached but the lone samurai sidestepped the oversized axe and lunged straight at Eko-san with his flaming sword outstretched. Eko-san dodged the blow easily and tried to step in to grapple with his opponent. The attacker leapt back out of Eko's range and slice out with his sword. The blow missed but the flamed blinded his opponent and kept him from seeing the next swipe. Eko would have lost his guts with that attack if Regula had not brought his axe down in between them. The Samurai stopped mid blow and jumped back from the falling axe without ever seeing it come. He then swung at Regula and threw a smile fire ball at him from his burning sword. Regula brushed it aside with a sweep of the mop on his axe and counter attacked with the axe head. He missed as his opponent leapt to the right, he swung again and missed again. This time the Samurai stepped on top of the axe and threw a blast of flame right at Ragula's face. Regula blocked again as he had done before as Eko-san leapt up onto his back and caught a pair of spears that seemed to come from nowhere. No sooner had the spears appear then the form of Rage materialized behind them, another savage roar erupting from his lips and his swung again with his spears. This time Regula was the one to block them, leaving Eko-san to face with the samurai on the ground.

Rage swung again and again with his Yuri pikes as he lashed out with each one he would spin the other in his hand so that the blade passed though the pillars of fire rising off his back. Each attack poured more fired down on to his foe, and while the flame along could not kill Regula it did blind him and it also heated his internal mechanisms gradually slowing him down and exposing him to more damage. Regual gracefully danced around his opponent dodging what blows he could and catching those he could not with the mop on the end of his axe to douse the flame. The mop head was always wet and there was nothing in this world it could not sweep away in a sudsy tide. He tried to get on the offensive but Rage's attacks were to furious all he could do for now was steer him away from his master and the undamaged portions of the city.

Eko-san and the swordsman clashed with each other in a vicious battle. The samurai's sword gave him a powerful advantage, though Eko-san's armor could stop even Rage's great Yuri pikes it did little good against the burning blade of his foe. The samurai swung and Eko-san tried to punch and grapple with him, he was stronger than his opponent, physically he could win, but the man he was fighting was a great warrior and strength made little difference to him, especially when he had his sword. Still Eko-san had at him in attack after attack trying to duck or dodge his way around his opponent's blade and strike at him directly. He finally did it, but just before the blow could land, the samurai grabbed his arm. His glove was burning hot from clutching the burning blade, Eko-san couldn't imagine how he could hold such a thing if it was that hot. He swung Eko's hand around his head and flipped him on to his back. He then stuck immediately trying to slice through him and end it all, but Eko-san quickly rolled to the side and was back up in an instant and shoulder charged his opponent knocking him back and to the ground. Eko-san lunged to try and grab the man while he was on the ground but when he came within an arm's length his enemy slashed hat his leg and cut his ankle.

Regula could feel the pain of his master as he blocked another one of Rage's attacks. The pain distracted him for just the wrong moment as the second Pike came back around and nailed him in the side. The wound was too low to end the fight then and there but it nonetheless jure like hell. Regula leapt back before Rage could bring the blade around for another pass. Eko-san did the same trying to get far away from his opponent. _Damn_ Eko-san thought to himself as he saw the two leap towards them, and while thanking the gods that Regula could heal him while they were close like this, otherwise that ankle wound would cost him his life. _You just can't beat that bastard while he's like this. What are we going to do? Yamato where are you?_

On the other side of the battle field Oizume and Miyoshi clashed with each other like an elegant dance. They never tried to block each other, neither weapon was made to do that, but they dodge each other's attacks with constantly. Neither ever really stopped attacking. Oizume never stopped swinging his ball and chain and when every they came close together he would savagely slash out with his comma. Miyoshi always had some throwing star or short knife tucked up her sleeve for when they were far away, and when they came close together the jabbed and slashed with her short sword. All of their blows were designed to be lethal; all were aimed at one weak point of the human body or another. Yet they had to attack and dodge at the same time and it very hard to do either of those when one has to do the other. Given the choice between throwing accurate attacks and having enough room to dodge both warriors kept their distance. Still, Oizume should have paid closer attention to where the throwing knives that missed went; since he didn't after several long dances, Miyoshi tripped him on a fallen blade. To make matters worse he fell onto a throwing star which soon embedded itself into his back. He was back up in an instant and he swung his ball and chain wildly to keep Miyoshi at a distance. The damage was done though and he had a lot of catching up to do now.

The fight between Desiru and Service would've been the most interesting to watch, if anyone in the city hadn't been too busy trying to contain Rage's fires and had fast enough eyes to catch any detail to the fight beyond a large blur. By all accounts Service was actually helping Desiru kill her. When Desiru swung her meat cleaver Service would grab it with one hand and pull or push it so it moved even faster while she tried to dodge it and would get nicked by the blade. When Desiru lashed out with her whip Service would swing her arm into it so that the whip would wrap around her arm and badly cut her. She never attacked and kept on taking a beating. Even though she was now a mass of scars and wounds she kept on smiling. Desiru didn't seem to mind and didn't seem the least bit worried about Service's willingness to be beaten up, she just kept on wailing away on her. Finally Desiru wrapped Service's arm up properly and pulled her forward causing Service to lose her balance, when she did Desiru brought her meat cleaver down onto Service's arm and cut it off. The pain was unimaginable and even though Service had quietly taken her beating up till now she still had to leap back and clutch her lost arm. She screamed when the pain overcame her causing their masters to stop fighting for the briefest moment.

"What's wrong deary?" Desire said as she licked her meat cleaver and threw the lost arm aside with her whip. "Is serving my needs no longer any fun for you? Is the charitable goddling finally tired of taking the abuse of others and ready to give out some of her own?"

Despite the pain, Service kept on smiling. She looked up and spoke to her tormentor. "Depends, are you finally ready to give up? Once you give up I will stop fighting."

"You're not exactly in a position to be making demands of me you little bitch. You're covered in wounds and I would really like to know how you intend to fight with only one arm?"

"Desiru, I always knew that deep down, you were a sadistic bastard but I never imagined you would be this dumb. Don't you know what my wisdom is? Don't you know what my greatest powers are?"

"You think I care? It doesn't matter what you can do, my ability is Wisdom of the Binding Lust, no abilities of any doji, friend of foe's work within a 3 meter radius of me. And while I am in Demigod mode like this I can chose a different center for that canceling field. In this case I chose to place my powers around you. So you can't use any of your wisdom beyond a basic attacking wisdom."

"You've forgotten the nature of Demigod mode, the whole reason why Nobuhide and Rage created it was so that they could use the Wisdom of the Apocalypse Armor which protects them or any other doji who uses it from the abilities of all other doji. While in Demigod mode like this you're powers can't stop me! Wisdom of the Great Giver: Pain Swap!" Service called out in open defiance of her opponent and as she did, her arm returned and all of her cuts closed up and a strange green vapor seem to pour off her body and rush towards Desiru carrying with it all the injuries that she had sustained. But just three meters out the green vapor suddenly spread out like it was being blocked by an invisible wall.

"You know," Desiru said as she watched the vapor spread out arounda very surprised Service. "I really hate the fact that all of you Zen Doji think that just because you copied Rage's brilliant technique, you suddenly have as much power and wisdom as he does. Wisdom of the Apocalypse Armor is just that, armor. Armor doesn't cancel out blows, it deflects them and weakens their effect. Rage only uses the armor to give himself a window of opportunity in which to attack. Rather than being at the mercy of his opponent's power he can strike through it and directly at them. But all armor will break if it is hit enough times or with enough force. Betting your apocalypse armor against my ability cancel is like to beat a samurai to death bear handed. Armor on armor, fist on fist, it all becomes a question of endurance. The difference is that ability cancel is my basic wisdom; it consumes very little energy to perform, while your pain swap is an advanced technique that requires a great deal of energy. So how long can you keep it up?"

Desiru did not wait for a reply but attacked Service immediately. She came head on with her whip in hand swing at Service from beyond the veil of green vapor. Service ducked and dived to the left, but the whip came back round again. She tried to back up staying out of her adversary's reach but Desiru kept coming. She pressed Service back up to the wall of fire that surrounded her and continue to batter he defenses. Unable to dodge, Service was forced to try and catch the whip, but since her ability hadn't had its full effect her new arm was still made out of energy and keeping all of her lesser wounds closed took up to much concentration. She couldn't afford to get hit in the same place twice. Desiru swung and caught Service's arm and pinned her down, she then stepped though the vapor and swung her meat cleaver. Several cuts formed on Desiru, but it was too little too late, the cleaver came down on Service's new arm and dispelled it. The loss of energy was exhausting; she was forced out of Demigod state.

Service was collapsing, and this was very bad. It was her concentration that held her body and her master's body together, if she fainted now it would cost her master his arm. She couldn't allow that to happen. With the last of her strength she dispelled her powers and returned her master's arm to him. She fell to the ground and as she did she gradually changed back into her old form. She bent down under the weight of exhaustion and all of the wounds she had sent over to Desiru came rushing back to her. Her arm vanished, and deep wounds opened up all over her body. Across the battlefield her master's armor vanished and his arm returned to normal. His strength left him and he would only keep his life a second longer. Deprived of Service's power it was impossible for him to keep up with his enemy's speed. Miyoshi slit his throat in an instant. Service was sliced in two an instant later.

Eko-san saw his old friend fall along with his page and servant. Tears came to his eyes and terrible rage awoke deep within his heart. He knew that to give into that rage, to let it surge through his body to let it control his movement was to admit defeat. His enemy: Oda Nobuhide, was a Kensai a world renown warrior who thrived because of his berserk rage, no one could ever hope defeat him in his own element. He bit down on his lip and tried desperately to keep his anger down. He couldn't, he had known Oizume for too long, shared too much with him to remain stoic in the face of his death. His anger poured over him. He cried out in a terrible voice and struck out at Nobuhide with wild passion. The swordsman grabbed his incoming fist with no effort at all and pulled Eko forward to that he lost his balance. In the same movement his pushed his burning blade straight out and into Eko's stomach.

Eko-san could feel the blade slowly slide into his guts, he could feel the incredible heat rise up in his chest as the unearthly fires of his sword danced over his internal organs, scaring and burning them. He felt his flesh cauterize as the sword was pulled out, leaving him to die from internal blisters and bleeding. He felt his back hit the ground and the pressure only served to heighten the cries of his nerves. In the back of his mind he could also feel Regula experience the same thing as one of Rage's Yuri pikes grazed his soul and sent him to the ground.

The warrior walked away from Eko-san fallen body and as soon as he was beyond the reach of any possible attack he let out a savage war cry. Second later Rage joined him and the two raised the voices to the heavens in proud defiance. This cry was far different from the savage roar that Rage had released earlier, it was higher pitched and there was little malevolence in it. This one carried the message to the world that death had claimed its own and that all the little creatures of the world could walk freely once more, till he was hungered again. Rage began to shrink as the cry left him and he dispelled his Demigod mode. He returned to the form of the four foot tall silvered haired boy that Eko-san had learned to fear over the many years. Desiru and Miyoshi soon came over to join the two of them.

"Eko-san still lives, don't you want to finish him? If Yamato arrives he will revive him." Miyoshi said as she slowly drew her knife over Eko's throat and Desiru returned to her old form.

"Let him," The warrior said as he removed his battle mask and allowed his armor to dissolve into the air and return to Rage. "Eko-san lost because he was enraged at your victory. I would hate it if our rivalry ended that way."

"You could heal him yourself if you truly want to fight again."

"We've wasted enough time already, soon Yamato will break the spell that Rage cast on him and then he will come here, we must finish here long before then."

"Shall I have the honor or will you do it."

"You actually beat your rival, you do it." The warrior finished. With that Miyoshi nodded to Desiru who then raised up her meat cleaver and brought it down on the center of the town, causing the earth to split in two. The ground shook and split and cracks ran throughout the whole city sending the few undamaged buildings of Edo down into the earth to be crushed and buried beneath the stone. Rage then flew down into the center of the crack and vanished for a few moments. When he returned he was carrying a green tube about five feet in length and three feet wide. It was surrounded by a blue glow and felt icy to the touch. Desire approached and as she did the blue glow vanished. After that, Rage struck the tube with a great pike and shattered the glass of the tube.

Inside was a boy, who looked to be about twelve years old. He had green hair and green eyes, his hair was wild and his face seemed to radiate power and his teeth looked like they had been sharpened. He had a pair of huge gloves that were covered with many sharp edges. He wore an open vest with a popped up collar and the lower half of a kimono. He stood up the moment the glass stopped falling and looked about the world with a defiant grin. Everything about him communicated a prideful attitude and a really short temper but he nonetheless seemed strangely beautiful. No matter how much he repulsed a view they were somehow drawn back to him, if for no other reason than to ensure that he hadn't drawn a blade on them.

His first words to the new world were: "Who the hell are you goddamned bastards and why shouldn't I kill you?"

The warrior responded to him with utter confidence. He said, "It is truly a pleasure to meet you in the flesh, Lord Vice leader of the Evil Doji. I am Oda Nobuhide the enemy of Yamato the bandit who is the reason why you have been buried for the last five years. I am the master of Rage the Wrathful of the seven deadly sins. I would like to assist you in killing Ultimo if you would permit it."

"I haven't been buried for the last five years; I couldn't have been out for longer than five minutes."

"Yeah you were knocked out for five minutes right after Ultimo gained a master then he froze your time and left you for dead. Since then you have buried under this city. Five years have passed, of the six perfection made to assist Ultimo only one still lives and he is dying. Of the seven deadly sins, Desiru and Rage are the only ones left. Desiru can paralyze Ultimo's power and give you a fighting chance against him, Rage can keep him from escaping, but only you can kill him."

"Well you're right about one thing; I am the only one who can kill him, what makes you think that I need you?"

"Ultimo has had five years to train with his master, the moment Yamato decided to become his master he surpassed you, how do you intend to defeat him without a master of your own? And even if you find a master, the best he can give you is the Wisdom of the Gods while Ultimo has grown far beyond that. If you want any hope of killing him you need our assistance."

"Well if you're so eager to help me then I assume you have a master readied for me? And a safe place where I can prepare him for battle?"

"Both await you in the city of Kyoto, if you would so kind as to follow me I will take you there." Nobuhide said as he led Vice out of the ruined city. To be honest Vice didn't like this Nobuhide guy, he was far too used to power for Vice to be comfortable around him. And he could see Rage and Desiru, Nobuhide had called them Evil Doji, Vice wasn't certain if he like the sound of that. But he did like the sight and sound of the burning city. The cries and shouts of dying and dead civilians filled his ears to his great delight. If this had all been the work of this Nobuhide feller, then Vice might just be able to get used to him.

Skip

After a few more moments Shogun's dreams began to fade from his mind Rage was no longer interested in them, and Shogun had woken up. Before he even opened his eyes or heard the knock his skin told him that there was someone at his door and that they were very loud walkers. The knock only served to confirm this for him. Shogun arose from his bed and told them to enter. Shogun's sense poured information into his brain and told him almost immediately who it was at the door and it honestly surprised him. It was Domon Huga, Dynamo's oldest boy toy. Dynamo had had Huga ever since Shogun had known him. He was Chinese by birth but had been brought to Japan ages ago, so you couldn't really tell anymore. When Shogun had left Huge was about fifteen years old and Dynamo had moved on to younger boys to suit his needs, in all honestly, Shogun though that Dynamo was going to kill Huga on his seventeenth birthday.

"Good morning Huga didn't expect to see you here." Shogun said as he and Rage got out of bead and began to dress themselves for the day.

"Good morning Mr. Shogun, Mr. Sanji sent me over with a message, uhhhh," Huga began to say as he entered the room but paused mid sentence as he realized the Shogun and Rage had shared the same bed. "You sleep together?" He asked against his better wisdom.

"Of course." Shogun responded not seeing any reason why they shouldn't. "You were saying about a message?"

"Yes, he wrote it down in this envelope and put a few files in here and told me where to find you."

"So you work for Mr. Sanji now? How did you ever convince Dynamo to let you out of your sound proof room?"

"Well I had to do something to get back in his good graces I mean he practically threw me out of his house when I turned eighteen."

"You're trying to get back in the good graces of the man who has raped you regularly since you were six?"

"Well yeah, you think our relationship would be pretty established by now, but recently he won't say two words to me unless business demands it. To be honest it's driving me crazy. But you probably don't need to hear about my social problems I will see you later Shogun."

"And Dynamo wonders why I can't stand pedophiles." Shogun said to himself as Huga left the room. He then opened up the folder and looked over its contents. Rage leapt off the ground and tried to float over Shogun's shoulder to read the folder as well. He couldn't get a clear view though, and after a few moments of silence, Rage decided to interrupt his master.

"What's it say?"

"A group of street punks are planning to rob a local art collector. While nothing can be confirmed about the art collector's collection it is rumored to contain a six foot tall human doll of notable life likeness. Our men thought that it might be a Doji and though that they should call it in."

"Do you think that they might be right?"

"Well one of the members of the gang just happens to be Hiroshi Kumegawa and the only six foot tall Doji I can think off were Goge and Allegro, so I dare say it might be worth our attention."

"So then were off to the next battle?"

"And the next war."

End of Epilogue

End of Story.

_Yep that's it. That is the official end of the Tail of Rage. As of this moment the whole story from start to finish with all my notes removed takes up about 124 pages and has 68,546 words to it when single spaced and set to half inch margins. I have had a lot of fun writing this fanfiction and I would like to thank anyone who read the whole thing for doing so and I hope you all enjoyed it. Please feel free to read and review. I would really appreciate it. Next I intend to work on the Tail of the Commanders along with an new story I have been working on with Hone'Sweeiei. Once again I hope you all have enjoyed this story, and may you all have a good night. _


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